>Death Certificates.
>50 years maintance at the Dept of Health with all older than 50 years records
transferred to the State >Archives. Certified copies still required at the Dept
of Health for legal purposes at full going rate of
>cost. Genealogists obtain the State Archives copies for genealogical purposes
at reasonable cost. >Copies to be transferred each year to the State Archives
when it is 50 years old. (Oregon State >Archives do this and they charge 50
cents a copy and limit to two copies per letter! and fast >turnaround)
Identification required if less than 50 years old to obtain certified copies to
some degree.
>Marriage Certificates
>50 years and transfer to State Archives (Does NYS Dept of Health control the
marriage certificates) >with all same requirements as Death Certificates.
>Birth Certificates
>State copies under 75 years with local control under requirements for certified
copies for legal >purposes. 75 years and older (or should it be 50?) transferred
from Dept of Health to State Archives.
>The State Archives set own rules for obtaining copies for genealogical purposes
without any >oversight from the Dept of Health.
>Sound fair?<
David:
Thanks for the thought you put into this proposal. I would hope the Health
Dept. would be glad to be rid of the older records (and it can hardly make a
case of needing them for health reasons or privacy, and they will always be
accessible to the Health Dept. through the Archives). But one major issue
remains.
At the moment, the primary complaint against the Health Dept. is that records
can be requested only by mail and it takes MONTHS to receive one. The schedule
for transference of records to the Archives is fine, but we need to have
prompter and easier access to those records that remain at the Health Dept.,
too.
Andrew