New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

NYG-B

New York City Vital Records Now Online for Free

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nyc birth certificateThe largest collection of publicly available New York City birth, marriage, and death records is now online and free to access.

The New York City Municipal Archives has been working to digitize the millions of birth, marriage, and death records it holds since 2013. With the project now 70% complete, 9,318,625 digitized records from the 1860s to the early 1900s are already available online.

The completely digitized collection will include records of birth (1866–1909), death (1862–1948), and marriage (1866–1949). The new vital records was released following legal efforts by Reclaim The Records, and is based on an index created by the Genealogical Federation of Long Island (GFLI) who used the microfilmed card file to create the indexes.  [Read more…] about New York City Vital Records Now Online for Free

NYG&B Expands Member Website

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The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society has announced that it has replaced its website with a new one that is hoped to be easier to use and includes expanded content for members.

All collections in the eLibrary may now be viewed in a browsable format, which allows the reader to easily scroll through documents and print multiple pages. Numerous unique records and digital publications have been added to the eLibrary.

For Example: The complete run of The New York Researcher and its predecessor publication The NYG&B Newsletter, which was first published in 1990. New guides to using newspapers, maps, and other resources have been created. Dozens of Research Aid articles have been brought up to date by the original authors. Individual guides to genealogical research in New York counties are in production; thirteen of a projected 62 guides are now online.

Additions to the eLibrary include:

* The family records contained in the American Bible Society Collection and an index to more than 8,000 names

* The complete set of over 500 NYG&B Member Biographies from the early 20th century

* 32 digitized books, including many volumes originally published as part of the series Collections of The NYG&B Society and several entries in the WPA’s Public Archives Inventory, Church Archives Inventory, and Guide to Vital Statistics series for New York City.

* Book two of the 1855 New York State Census for Manhattan’s Ward 17.

The cornerstone of the eLibrary is the full run of The NYG&B Record, which has been published quarterly since 1870 and forms the largest single collection of published material on families that lived in New York State. The collection is every-word searchable and is accompanied by a search engine based on an index to more than 1,000,000 names from the pages of The Record.

While access to the full digital resources of the website is available only to NYG&B members, there are several features available to both members and non-members:

* News You Can Use is updated frequently and references new resources and information pertinent to New York research.

* There are free guides on the following subjects: Getting Started on Your Family History; Finding New York Vital Records; Genealogical and Historical Societies in the New York Region; Heraldry; Heritage and Lineage Societies; and Hiring Professional Genealogical Researchers.

* The Genealogical Exchange allows anyone to submit a specific query about a genealogical question related to New York.

* Information about upcoming programs offered by the NYG&B and the New York Family History School is also available; tickets may be purchased through the website.