I’ve heard other researchers talk about being denied access to records, but I hadn’t encountered this myself. Until yesterday, that is.
I was planning to drive to a local courthouse to search for 19th-century divorce records for a client, but after the lesson I learned last month, I called the courthouse first. It took three phone calls before I found the office where the records I needed were located. When I reached the right clerk, I told her that I wanted to come and search the divorce records from the 1890s, but just wanted to confirm that the records were housed in that office and that the courthouse was open. She told me that I could make a written request for a search for the particular divorce record I wanted, but I wouldn’t be able to search them myself. When I told her that I believed that they were public records, she restated that I could fax or mail (not email) a written request for a search a particular name, but I couldn’t go in the vault to search them. I thanked her and faxed her my request, but it made me wonder about public access. If the particular record group was too fragile for public inspection I could understand it, but this seemed more like a blanket restriction.
I asked for thoughts from researchers on FaceBook. New England Researcher Ruy Cardoso CG suggested that I should show up at the courthouse with some cookies. Not a bad idea. Certainly a little sugar, whether literal or figurative, can go a long way anywhere in life. Judy G. Russell, better known as The Legal Genealogist, suggested that I carry a copy of the Vermont public records law with me. Great idea!
I was going to the Vermont State Archives and Records Administration in Middlesex that day, so I made myself a copy of the statutes there. (Thanks for your help finding it, Marissa!) As Scott Reilly pointed out to me, the statutes are also available online. Click on §§ 315-320. Specifically, §317(a)(2)(b) gives the following definition: “As used in this subchapter, “public record” or “public document” means any written or recorded information, regardless of physical form or characteristics, which is produced or acquired in the course of public agency business.” The law lists 40 exemptions to public records. If the record is created by a public agency and isn’t listed in the exemptions, then it is a public record. Vermont is one of the few states where the vital records (birth, marriage, civil union, divorce, death) are open public records.
There is a PDF document online titled, “A Matter of Public Record: A Guide to Vermont’s Public Records Law” that explains Vermont’s public records law. It is missing the 2011 updates to the law regarding timelines for public agencies to respond, but it has a lot of very helpful information. It provides information in “plain English” rather than “legalese,” although the statutes are pretty easy to understand by themselves. This document contains sample letters to use for requesting public records. I also noted with interest that there is an Official Fee Schedule on page 18 that states that photocopies of public records are charged at $.05 per page. This is what is charged at the Vermont Archives, but at a local city clerk’s office I was recently charged $2.00 for one page of a public record at a self-service copier. Hmm. Section 316(a)(2)(b) of the public records law states that a public agency can charge “the actual cost of providing the copy.” Could that possibly amount to $2.00 when no staff time is involved? On page 19 of the Guide to Vermont’s Public Records Law, there is a chart describing Town Clerk’s Fees, as of 2009. There it states that uncertified copies can be charged at $2.00 for the first page and $1.00 per page after that. It sounds like that is the basis for what I was charged. I wonder what the basis is for the wide discrepancy between $.05 and $2.00 for a page?
So, what about those nineteenth-century divorce records I wanted? Hopefully the court will send me the record I want in response to the request I faxed. If I decide that I need to search the records myself, I’ll probably try asking again, perhaps to someone a bit higher up. That’s probably all it would take. Vermont is a very friendly state. If necessary, I could present my request for access in writing. At least I better understand the process now.
Do you have a story about being denied access to public records anywhere during your genealogical research? How did you resolve it? I’d love to hear your story!
I missed Ruy’s suggestion about the cookies on Facebook. On my last day in the Probate Court before leaving Miami back in 2001, I took homemade cookies for all the clerks there who had been so helpful to me in my probate research. Looking up nervously at the security cameras, they advised me that they were not allowed to accept gifts of any kind from the public to avoid any appearance of special favors. Only after I promised the supervisor that I would leave the state and never visit their office again was I allowed to leave the cookies for the staff. It might be different here in New England, but beware! You may have to eat your cookies!
I can just see the headlines now – “Diane Gravel Implicated in Cookie Scandal” or “Genealogist Implicated in Cookie Payoff.” I’m glad they finally accepted the cookies!
Yes, and I wrote a letter of complaint to the Oregon Attorney General’s access for denial of access to public record. About a month later I got a call from the court clerks office and was invited by that supervisor to come view the records at my leisure. Since then the same counter clerk has tried to deny access to that same record and I left her the choice. Bring me the book or bring me your supervisor (named supervisor)… the book comes back every time!
Job well done. Don’t mess with Leslie! I’m surprised she would continue to deny access to the record book after her supervisor approved it as a public record.
Yes, Cathi, exactly the point. A cookie payoff? In Miami, where they have dead voters? Puulleeeease!!!!!!!!! LOL!
Great topic, Cathi.
My story isn’t ready for prime time, but there is a county where the local genealogical society responds to requests for vital record documents from the clerk’s office . . . with TRANSCRIPTIONS they make from the original county records. In this case (conflicting evidence) I need to see the originals. Not sure how difficult that might be.
In our supposedly standardized society, there’s obviously a *lot* of local variation. That’s probably a good thing to realize in regard to the creation of these records as well.
Harold
In one situation I was told that a record transcription would be sent because they couldn’t photocopy or print from microfilm version. I asked if someone could take a photo with their smartphone. They were happy to do so and the resulting image was excellent. You might want to give that a try!