Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Breaking News - 1921 Census of Canada

Elizabeth Lapointe posted the following in her Genealogy Canada blog:

"A reliable source from the LAC has just phoned me to ask that I inform my readers, genealogists, and others interested in their Canadian families, that the 1921 Canadian Census has already been digitized, and has been ready for release since last Wednesday, 12 June, but it is being held back by the federal government before it is released.

Library and Archives Canada’s Secret Book Deal Generates Angry Responses

Controversy continues to swirl around Library and Archives Canada. The latest scandal is a secret deal negotiated with Canadiana.ca, a private high-tech consortium, to give away millions of publicly-owned books and documents to Canadiana.com which, in exchange, will get a 10-year exclusive license to sell the books and documents in sophisticated digital formats.

The deal was reached in secrecy with no public hearings or even announcements. Critics say the deal amounts to selling back to Canadians what they already own. In the House of Commons, NDP heritage critics Andrew Cash and Pierre Nantel again challenged Heritage Minister James Moore, who agreed that Canadians shouldn’t pay to access their own archives.

You can read more in an article by Chris Cobb in the Canada.com web site at http://goo.gl/gjED8.

UPDATE: Ian Wilson agrees that this is a very bad idea. Wilson is Canada’s former chief librarian and archivist. He says it smacks of “desperation” by the federal government. Details may be found in the Ottawa Citizen at http://goo.gl/nIS4U.

Library and Archives Canada to Start Charging Fees?

An internal document from Library and Archives Canada suggests the department is considering a paywall to help pay for digitizing its content, but that plan has been delayed until at least the fall. Part of a plan posted on an archivist's Tumblr blog involves a 10-year agreement with non-profit group Canadiana.org.

"The agreement … provides for 10 years of exclusive rights for Canadiana to monetize the collections in exchange for making them accessible online," the document said.

Details may be found in an article on the CBC News web site at http://goo.gl/5JFfq.

Heritage Minister Considers Restoring Some Funding To Library And Archives Canada

Library and Archives Canada has been in chaos for the past year or more. Budgets have been slashed to the bone and even into the bone, making it impossible for the government agency to perform its mandated tasks. Employees have been "gagged," not allowed to talk about the agency in any public in-person or online forum without advance permission. Charges of incompetence and financial impropriety have been made. The head of Library and Archives Canada recently was forced to resign. (You can find my recent articles about Library and Archives Canada if you start at http://goo.gl/8qzHz .)

Now there is a glimmer of hope for the beleaguered agency: Heritage Minister James Moore will ask Library and Archives Canada to consider restoring a program eliminated during recent federal budget cuts that helped hundreds of small museums across the country preserve local history.

You can read more at http://goo.gl/4TLmH.

1921 Census of Canada to be Available to Researchers in the Next Few Weeks

The 1921 Canadian Census was taken on June 1, 1921. It was locked up by Statistics Canada 92 years under the Statistics Act to protect individuals’ private information. That time has now expired and Statistics Canada has given the records to Library and Archives Canada. The census data is being indexed so it can be mined for historical and genealogical research as soon as possible.

The following is an extract from the Library and Archives Canada web site at: http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/news/Pages/2013/1921-census.aspx:

Minister Moore Announces Acting Librarian and Archivist of Canada

The Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, has taken action in an attempt to clean up some of the problems at Library and Archives Canada. (You can read my earlier articles about this at http://goo.gl/lj9kJ.) Today Moore announced that Hervé Déry will be the interim Librarian and Archivist of Canada until an appointment is made.

Since March 2012, Mr. Déry has been the Assistant Deputy Minister and Corporate Secretary, Policy and Collaboration Sector, at Library and Archives Canada. Mr. Déry has also held several other senior positions within the federal government since 1982. He holds both a bachelor's and a master's degree in Economics from the University of Montreal.

 

Concerns About Serious Mismanagement of the Library and Archives of Canada

A political scandal is brewing in Canada. The head of Library and Archives Canada (LAC), Daniel Caron, resigned after billing taxpayers nearly $4,500 for personal Spanish lessons. The scandal over his expenses followed controversy over a new code of conduct for employees instituted a few months ago by the same Daniel Caron. (You can read about that in my earlier article at http://goo.gl/aRUJS.) Caron's departure comes amongst numerous other claims of improper management at Library and Archives Canada. You can read more about Caron's departure under a cloud by starting at http://goo.gl/tDR5j.

Lew Lockhart obviously wants to see increased funding for operation and management of the Library and Archives of Canada. He sent the following message:

Oregon Update: House & Senate action on HB2093

Quoting an article by Fred Moss on the Records Preservation and Access Committee blog at http://www.fgs.org/rpac/2013/05/14/oregon-update-house-senate-action-on-hb2093/:

I don’t know how many of you listened in to the hearing or accessed the audio only archives—but we won!

The hearing was only on the amended version I sent out earlier today —4  and is attached again which keeps the birth records at 100 years, and death, marriage, divorce, annulment and partnership at 50 years.  See Section SECTION 33. ORS 432.121 (7a)  (page 73)   It also removes the restriction on cause of death that is in the existing statute.   See Section SECTION 33. ORS 432.121 (3)  [page 69] in the italicized ( redacted) portion and nothing comparable in the new language (bold)  page 70-71.

Irish Statistics (1926 Census) Bill, 2013

Michael Merrigan, MA, FGSI, the General Secretary of the Genealogical Society Of Ireland, has sent a message to many noting that the Statistics (1926 Census) Bill, 2013 was published on the Oireachtas website. It is described as:

Bill entitled an Act to amend the Statistics Act 1993, in relation to the first census of population of Ireland taken since the establishment of the State; to afford that census a special heritage status and to have such released to the public for genealogical, historical and other research

Texas House Bill 3252 would close Texas Birth And Death Records

Here is still one more attack on open records being launched by well-intentioned, but clueless, legislators. The following was copied from the Texas State Genealogical Society's (TSGS) web site:

House Bill 3252 by Representative John Zerwas (Fort Bend County) would close Texas birth records for 125 years and Texas death records for 50 years.  Under current Texas law, birth and death records now become public information 75 years after a birth and 25 years after a death.  Proponents of the bill believe that closing birth and death records for 125 and 50 years will prevent identity theft and fraud.

TSGS is actively opposing this legislation.  Click here to read the full Legislation Alert.

2014 NARA Budget Details

Yesterday's newsletter contained an announcement at http://goo.gl/J6yZk giving a summation of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration's 2014 budget. The 2014 Budget Congressional Justification is now online at http://www.archives.gov/about/plans-reports/performance-budget/2014-performance-budget.pdf.

President Requests $385.8M for National Archives FY 2014 Budget

The following announcement was written by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration:

Washington, DC - Today, President Barack Obama sent to Congress his Fiscal Year 2014 budget request for the Federal Government, which includes $385.8 million for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

The requested amount for NARA is a slight decrease from the FY 2012 funding level of $391.5 million.  NARA's FY 2013 budget is approximately $371 million, including sequestration cuts.

Still More Threats to the SSDI

The bureaucrats won't give up! Pressure is mounting to lock up access to the Master Death File (often referred to as the DMF), this time from the White House. This is despite the fact that the SSDI helps PREVENT identity theft! I do notice, however, that the new document from the White House does admit, "Although some DMF users need immediate access to the DMF for fraud prevention purposes..." (See my earlier article about the SSDI and identity theft at http://goo.gl/IpGr1.)

You can read about the latest threat and watch a video on NBC News at http://goo.gl/3yu7I. The actual document referenced is available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2014/assets/spec.pdf.

Quoting from that document:

Oregon Legislators Attempt to Restrict Access to Birth, Marriage, and Death Certificates

Oregon House Bill 2093 contains wording that, if passed, will restrict family members and genealogists from accessing records that have been previously available to them.  In Section 33 of the proposal, ORS 432.121 will be amended to allow the issuance of records only "when 125 years have elapsed after the date of live birth, 75 years have elapsed after the date of death or fetal death or 100 years have elapsed after the date of marriage, domestic partnership, dissolution of marriage or dissolution of domestic partnership." The deadline for input is April 8th (next week!).

NOTE: This proposal will change today's rules:

Death records become available after 50 years
Marriage become available after 75 years
Birth records become available after 100 years

FGS Joins Coalition Urging Changes to Technology and Privacy Laws for Records Access

Big news: As most all genealogists already know, our access to public records is being threatened by well-meaning, but misguided, politicians and bureaucrats. The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) and other genealogy organizations have been fighting this trend but with little success. Now FGS is joining forces with some larger and more powerful organizations so that all of them together can educate the politicians and bureaucrats on the real issues.

The following announcement was written by the Federation of Genealogical Societies:

March 18, 2013 – Austin, TX. The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) has joined the American Library Association, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy and Technology, as well as other organizations, in an effort to ensure continued access to records for the genealogy and family history communities.

The coalition, in a letter dated March 19, 2013, is urging Senator Orrin Hatch (Utah) to take a leadership role on important issues involving technology, privacy and genealogy records access. These include:

• updating the laws and regulations governing the use of the "Death Master File" of the Social Security Administration and its commercially available Social Security Death Index (SSDI);
• and updating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA).

A Petition to Bring an End to the Clearing of Headstones in Western Australian Cemeteries

For almost 30 years the Metropolitan Cemeteries Board has been clearing headstones from Karrakatta Cemetery and will commence this practice in the Fremantle Cemetery this year. Headstones from founding pioneers, soldiers, and other people who have contributed historically to the state have been removed.

Valuable historic information and artefacts have been sent off and crushed for road base. Australians now can honour these people by driving over the remnants of their tombstones.

West Virginia Legislative Proposal to Protect Cemeteries

State representatives Manypenny, Marshall, Moore, Wells, Caputo, Longstreth and Fleischauer have introduced a bill into the West Virginia state legislature to make sure cemeteries in the state are not damaged by construction within one hundred feet of a cemetery or grave site. The proposed legislation applies to natural gas pipelines, wells and associated facilities. The overview of HB2893 states:

Allen County, Indiana, Introduces Sliding Fees for Death Certificates

NOTE: This article is about a recent action by the county government in Allen County, Indiana. It has nothing to do with the well-known genealogy library that is within that county.

Genealogists and others searching for birth and death certificates will pay a little more after the Allen County Commissioners passed a vital records fee ordinance amendment Friday. Requests will be charged on a new sliding scale for death certificates. According to the new amendment, genealogical record search requests and non-certified birth/death records request "will be charged $2 for each non-certified copy as well as a blanket request fee of $20 for up to five searches, $35 for 6-10 searches and $50 for more than 10 name searches. The search fee is non-refundable and must be paid prior to the start of the search for the requested records."

Connecticut Lawmakers Seek To Restrict Access To Death Certificates

The recent tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, has spawned a legislative bill that would restrict public access to the records for any children under age 18. State Representative Mitch Bolinsky, a freshman Republican lawmaker from Newtown, testified to a state legislative committee Wednesday that legislators "need to do something." Newtown Town Clerk Debbie A. Aurelia testified that she would like the bill amended to restrict access to all death certificates, not just those where the deceased was under the age of 18.

Proposed New York Legislation Will Allow Access to Adoptees' Birth Records

The following email was sent by the German Genealogy Group on Long Island:

The Adoptee Bill(s) of Rights would repeal the 1935 legislation that sealed in perpetuity the original birth certificates, and thus the original identities, of anyone adopted in the state of New York.

The Bill permits an adopted adult to access birth certificates and medical histories when they reach the age of 18. It also creates a contact preference to be filed by the birth parents.

We must get calls going to the members of the assembly & senate.