The History on Public Records

Public records broadly refer to a wide array of documents maintained by the government. Thus, the government agency--whether federal, state, or local--is responsible for the collection, aggregation, and management of the documents. However, generally the responsibility for most public records of interest falls under state and county-level government agencies.

Public records such as birth, death, and marriage certificates are collected by the government from vital records providers. Vital records providers are institutions such as hospitals for birth certificates or funeral directors and state/county medical examiners for death certificates. Responsible persons in these institutions are usually required to submit vital records to the vital records office, which is often an office under the department of health, public health, or health and statistics. Marriage and divorce certificates are often also maintained by the state vital records office, although depending on the state they may only be kept at county levels or under a different type of office. Court records, on the other hand, are usually collected by the county or state court itself.

What information is gathered in these records is under the jurisdiction of the collecting government agency. This means that usually, state laws determine what information is to be collected. Thus, although most vital records, business licenses, court records, and so on will generally contain similar information in every state, the particulars will vary depending on the state.

It is also the responsibility of the corresponding government agency to maintain these records. This includes ensuring the accuracy of these records as well as aggregating and at times publishing important statistics that are gathered using data from these records. Thus, for example, the vital records office also handles requests to amend information on vital records and is responsible for reporting cases of misrepresentation or fraud. Vital records offices, or the department of health under which it falls, will also gather important public health statistics using data from vital records, such as birth rate, fetal death rate, etc. This sort of information is essential for the planning and management of the public health department.

Being that they are public records, these records are generally made available to the public, although it may not always be easily accessible. Usually, these records are made available through requests to the respective office, but the exact office, process, and fee depend on the state. Some places will only accept mailed or walk-in requests; others will also accept requests over the internet.

For most states, many records such as birth certificates are only available to those who are named in the record, their immediate family, or those with a verified legal need. Where states vary is how and when these records are made available to others.

Many states have certain date restrictions, such that birth records after a certain number of years and death records after a different number of years are made publicly accessible to anyone. The number of years varies by state, although they usually range from 100-125 for birth records and 25-50 for death records. Other states differentiate between informational and certified copies, where only certified copies can be used for official use, such as for identification purposes. The informational copy is available to anyone while the certified copy is limited.

Marriage records also often have date restrictions, with different states making them available to the public at different times. Court records, on the other hand, are generally always publicly accessible, with some exceptions such as cases involving minors.

Public records are collected by the government for the purpose of preserving and making them accessible to the public. Although the ease of access to these records vary widely by state, it is always worth a try to contact the office of interest in search of an important public record, whether it be for family history research, simple interest, or verification purposes.