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Access to New York records under threat

Access and use of records held by the New York City Municipal Archives is being threatened by proposed amendments.

The New York City Municipal Archives is a key gateway to access records from the 1600s to the present day include birth, marriage, and death records for New York City, and “comprises the largest local government archive in North America … the Archives hold the records depicting the daily work of city government, including paper records … still and moving images, ledgers and docket books, vital records, cartographic materials, blueprints, and sound recordings.”

However, existing rules require licensing fees—in addition to reproduction (copy) fees—to use materials these materials.

The proposed amendments limit personal use. The changes mandate licensing fees to use these public records for educational, scholarly, non-profit, and media purposes.

As proposed, this general statement limits individuals, genealogists, biographers, historians, members of the press, and other researchers from sharing or publishing these public records.

Your voice is needed to support continued access and use of these public records. 

The need to pay a reasonable fee for the reproduction of a record is reasonable; however, any limitations or restrictions on the rights to use and share these public records is unreasonable.

What you can do

  • Submit your comment opposing licensing fees for public records by October 23, 2020, to DORISrules@records.nyc.gov.
  • Sign the public comment at https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/access-alert.
  • Participate in the online public hearing, October 23, 2020, at 11:00 AM ET. Learn more at https://rules.cityofnewyork.us/rule/32136/.
  • Share this important information with others.

Learn more at the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society’s page at https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/access-alert.


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