Reclaim The Records

Cheerfully introducing government agencies, archives, and libraries to Freedom of Information laws since 2015.

[Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs]

We were awarded an in-kind grant from Google to run $10,000 worth of ads per month on their search results pages, to promote our website and our mission to bring public records back to the public.

We're going to have a lot of fun with this.

[Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs]

Happy New Year, you guys! It's time for our 2025 Year in Review, and a look ahead to 2026 -- what records are going online next?!

https://t.co/9br0aHHePx

[Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs]

@AesopWaits ...then yeah, we take our wonderful shiny new lawsuit win and we turn our sights on New York City and go after their death index data, too.

Will they follow the court ruling straight away, or will they be stubborn jerks and make us sue them too? Guess we'll find out...!

[Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs]

YOU GUYS! IT'S FINALLY ONLINE!

IT'S TOTALLY FREE!

IT'S THE NEW YORK STATE DEATH INDEX, 1880-2017!

https://t.co/RdpU3mKjGQ

[Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs]

@AesopWaits This case is still doing the "in-camera review" portion before a lower level judge to try to get every last data field from the state, not just the ones they have handed over (and which we put online) so far. May take a few more months.

But once we 100% finish up with that...

[Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs]

@BRINGWADEBACK No, it's not a unique field on the death certificate itself (as far as we know). But we cross-referenced the data with the official State Gazetteer from the NYS DOH, and that database *does* state whether a *location* or a location *code* is a gov't-run facility or not.

[Adoption Search Angel @SearchAdoption]

Amazing resource!! Thank you RtR!

[Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs]

For 'Giving Tuesday' we're giving YOU GUYS a gift:
IT'S THE NEW YORK STATE DEATH INDEX, 1880-2017!

Ten and a half million records, now finally free and online and very very searchable!
- https://t.co/COu9XLiQMH

[Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs]

For Giving Tuesday *YOU* got a gift: THE NEW YORK STATE DEATH INDEX, 1880-2017 - FREE! - https://t.co/COu9XLiQMH

[Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs]

What's a #FOIA Appeal? What's some good language to use when you want to argue with the government about why they should be giving you the file you asked for, instead of some "genealogy letter"?

We got you. Check out our advice in our latest newsletter:
https://t.co/8d64ejousl

[Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs]

✊ Always Appeal! ✊
Did the VA refuse to send you a full copy of a C-File (claims file) that you requested under #FOIA for a deceased veteran? Well, we now have some attorney-approved sample texts you can use to fight back!

Check out https://t.co/xYYByulib1 for the latest!

[Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs]

Always Appeal! Here's what to do if the VA won't give you a C-File from BIRLS - https://t.co/8d64ejnWCN

[Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs]

We just published 1.5 million NEW BIRLS records for 2020-2023, ALL FREE -- but now the VA doesn't want you to see any of them! - https://t.co/yXJzIz4yvb

[Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs]

BTW, we wrote the custom software seen here processing the state gazetteer. And we plan to open source it GPLv3!

In case any of you also want to geocode enormous data sets of locations, some of which are tiny hamlets, possibly w/ spelling mistakes, maybe no longer extant. Fun!

[Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs]

First we fight and win a four year public records lawsuit, but *then* we really get to work making the data free and usable...

*cracks knuckles, goes back to coding*

[Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs]

@pzb We're still waiting for her to sign it! Will have more details about it soon...

[Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs]

OUR BILL PASSED the New York State Assembly yesterday -- UNANIMOUSLY! 🤩

It's still not a done deal yet. It has to go to the governor, and be signed, and not have last-minute line-item edits or a veto.

But we are now SO much closer to reforming New York's vital records access!

[Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs]

@richneumeister Not yet. 🤐

Also it's more fun to announce things in a big splashy way when we actually have the files in our grubby little hands. 😉

[Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs]

We just got notice that a Freedom of Information request we made for a certain state's vital records index in August 2020, heard as a contested case in August 2021, was finally decided in our favor...

That's nearly five years. FIVE YEARS! 😤

But we won. New data coming soon. 😊

[Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs]

@MsLaceyLoo No, actually they've been good and they've been sending us data updates regularly, whenever we ask for new annual batches each January, ever since we kicked their ass in our last case. ☺️

[Reclaim The Records @ReclaimTheRecs]

A HINT for our long-time fans:
Did you know that some states keep the ONLY copy of their official data in FoxPro, a database system that has been defunct for DECADES? And when the clerk who knew how to use it retired, the state pretended no more data could be exported from it? 🙃