Reclaim The Records

Reclaim The Records is a non-profit organization and activist group that advocates for greater transparency and accessibility for genealogical, archival, and vital records in the United States. They use state Freedom of Information requests and lawsuits to force government agencies, archives, and libraries to provide copies of previously inaccessible records to the public. Reclaim The Records then digitizes and publishes the records online for free public use, without any copyrights or usage restrictions.[1]

Reclaim The Records
FoundedProject started January 2015 (2015-01), formal incorporation December 2016 (2016-12), IRS non-profit status granted February 2017 (2017-02)
FounderBrooke Schreier Ganz
Type501(c)(3) non-profit
EIN 81-4985446
FocusFreedom of Information, open records, open data, archives, genealogy
Location
  • Mill Valley, California
Websitewww.reclaimtherecords.org

Reclaim The Records is the first genealogical organization to successfully sue a government agency for the release of records back to the public. As of July 2019, the organization has acquired and freely published more than twenty five million records, most of which had never been open to the public before in any location or format, or else were only available in very outdated formats such as microfiche in limited locations but had never gone online before.

History

Reclaim The Records was founded by Brooke Schreier Ganz, a technologist and long-time amateur genealogist. While living in California, Ganz had become increasingly frustrated by the lack of online access to New York City and New York State archival records. Almost none of the New York records had been put online by their respective city or state government archives or agencies, nor were the records available to search or to view through any genealogy websites, whether for-profit or non-profit. A small subset of the basic vital records index data was available to the public, but only if one was physically onsite in New York records repositories, and only in outdated formats such as microfilm and microfiche.

After unsuccessfully attempting to use New York City's open data law, Local Law 11 of 2012, to compel the publication of the basic indices to these records, Ganz decided to use the state's Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) to force the release of copies. She made a FOIL request of the New York City Municipal Archives in January 2015, which was initially agreed to and then denied by the city.[1] This led to an Article 78 lawsuit in the Supreme Court of New York that August. Not wanting to sue the city with just her name on the case, Ganz created Reclaim The Records as an organization so that they could both be listed as Petitioner on the case. The city settled the case five days before they were due in court, and Ganz won the first public copies of the index to New York City marriage licenses for 1908-1929 on 48 rolls of microfilm. This was the first time that an American genealogist had ever successfully sued for the return of genealogical records to the public.[2][3][4][5] The case proved that the Municipal Archives' holding were indeed subject to New York's FOIL.

In January 2016, Reclaim The Records filed another FOIL request that became another Article 78 lawsuit, this time filed against the New York City Clerk's Office. They too settled with the group, providing 110 reels of microfilm and copies of a digital database they had created for in-house use. The city also paid the organization's attorneys fees.

In November 2016, Reclaim The Records filed a third lawsuit under the Missouri Sunshine Law against the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services for access to the basic index to births and deaths in the state. During the course of the lawsuit, it was discovered that the Missouri DHSS had been selling this same data to researchers for years, but was unwilling to provide copies to the public. The case is still pending.[6][7][8]

Reclaim The Records was formally incorporated in December 2016 and was granted 501(c)(3) non-profit status by the IRS in February 2017.

Name of record setCity and StateGovernment AgencyLegal action
New Jersey Marriage Index, 1901-2016[9][10]New JerseyThe New Jersey Department of HealthFerretti v. New Jersey Department of Health - Office of Population Health, No. 2017/123

(settled, records turned over)

New York State Death Index, 1880-1956[11][12]All of New York State outside of New York City, excluding the cities of Albany, Buffalo, and Yonkers prior to 1915The New York State Department of HealthSeventeen months of legal wrangling with the NYS DOH, including two FOIL requests and one FOIL appeal, but no litigation needed
New York City Marriage License Index, 1930-1995[13][14][15]New York City, New YorkThe New York City Clerk's OfficeReclaim the Records, et al, v. The City of New York, No. 100397/2016 [Sup Ct, NY Cnty]

(settled, records turned over, attorneys fees paid)

New York City Marriage License Index, 1908-1929[16][17]New York City, New YorkThe New York City Municipal Archives, via their parent agency New York City Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS)Brooke Schreier Ganz, et al, v. The City of New York, No. 101643/2015 [Sup Ct, NY Cnty]

(settled, records turned over)

Index to New York City Marriage Licenses, 1996-2017[18] New York City, New York The New York City Municipal Archives, via their parent agency New York City Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) Reclaim the Records, et al, v. The City of New York, No. 150250/2018 [Sup Ct, NY Cnty](settled, records turned over, attorneys fees paid)

Awards
Organization nameAward nameAward YearStatus
Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS)Director’s Award2017Winner[19]
International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS)Outstanding Project of the Year2017Winner[20]
International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS)John Stedman Memorial Grant Recipient2017Winner[21]
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)The Foilies Award2017Winner*[22]
Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE/NICAR)The Golden Padlock Award2017Finalist*[23]

*awarded to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, due to information uncovered during Reclaim The Records' Sunshine Law requests and subsequent lawsuit against the agency

See also

References
  1. Klein, Daniel (May 5, 2017). "Group looks to open access to genealogy records". NJ.com True Jersey. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
  2. Brooke-ing no denial: Reclaim the Records successfully pursues NYC marriage affidavits/licenses, (going) The Extra Yad (Emily Garber), retrieved 14 December 2017
  3. Public Records Access: One Genealogist Can Make A Difference!, Avotaynu Online (Jan Meisels Allen), retrieved 14 December 2017
  4. "Breaking News! NY Municipal Archives Throws In the Towel in Public Access Fight! - Avotaynu Online". Avotaynu Online. 2015-10-01. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  5. "First Fruits of the 'Reclaim the Records" Access Project Are Obtained! - Avotaynu Online". Avotaynu Online. 2015-11-13. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  6. "The 2017 Worst In Government Transparency Awards". nashvillescene.com. Nashville Scene. Mar 13, 2017.
  7. Margolies, Dan (Dec 5, 2016). "Missouri Sunshine Law Request Yields $1.5 Million Tab, Then $5,000, Then Outright Refusal". KCUR.org. KCUR 89.3. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
  8. Messenger, Tony. "Messenger: Hawley makes Sunshine splash while defending state secrecy in another case". stltoday.com. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  9. Our seventeenth newsletter: Introducing the New Jersey Marriage Index, 1901-2016, retrieved 14 December 2017
  10. Reclaim the Records -- New Jersey Marriage Index, 1901-2016, Now Available for FREE!, retrieved 14 December 2017
  11. Our fifteenth newsletter: We won the New York State Death Index!, retrieved 14 December 2017
  12. Our sixteenth newsletter: How do you fight the Empire State, and win?, retrieved 14 December 2017
  13. Our seventh newsletter: The New York City Clerk's Office gets served, retrieved 14 December 2017
  14. Our tenth newsletter: We Won! The New York City marriage index 1930-1995 will be free and open data!, retrieved 14 December 2017
  15. Our eleventh newsletter: The New York City marriage index for 1950-1995 is now Online!
  16. Our first newsletter — and our first win!, retrieved 14 December 2017
  17. Our second newsletter: the one where we have forty-six microfilms sitting in our kitchen, retrieved 14 December 2017
  18. "Index to New York City Marriage Licenses, 1996-2017 | Reclaim The Records". Reclaim The Records. Retrieved 2018-06-20.
  19. , retrieved 14 December 2017
  20. IAJGS Announces 2017 Awards and Grants, retrieved 14 December 2017
  21. IAJGS Announces 2017 Awards and Grants, retrieved 14 December 2017
  22. The Outrageous Fee Award: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, retrieved 14 December 2017
  23. IRE announces 2017 Golden Padlock Award finalists, retrieved 14 December 2017
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