Reclaim the Records

 Reclaim The Records is a non-profit activist group of genealogists, historians, researchers, and open government advocates. They identify important genealogical record sets that are wrongly restricted by government archives, libraries, and agencies. They file Freedom of Information and Open Data requests to get the public data released. If the government doesn't comply they take them to court. The records are digitized and put online for free. 

Thanks to their efforts here are a few of the records that are now available:

New Jersey Marriage Index 1901-2016

Missouri Death Index, 1968-2015

New York State Marriages (Outside of New York City) 1881-2017

New York State Death Index 1880-2017

The BIRLS (Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem) Database

Wyoming Marriage, Death, and Divorce Indices, 1900-1965

Maryland State Archives Collection

Visit their website for a full list https://www.reclaimtherecords.org/

Sign up for their newsletter  https://www.reclaimtherecords.org/#newsletter

Colonial Taxes to the 20th Century

 

I remember the date of April 15 in two different ways - first, as my grandmother's birthday and, of course, filing my taxes over the years. 

If you'd like to explore tax records from 1791-1996, check NARA Record Group 58 at:

https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/058.html

For easier perusing, try Cyndi's List using the Taxes category:

https://www.cyndislist.com/taxes/general/

January Genealogy News

 The first ship landed at Ellis Island on January 1, 1892. Thomas MacEntee's post about Ellis Island includes a free 10-page guide. https://mailchi.mp/genealogybargains.com/decoding-ellis-island-your-complete-guide-to-passenger-manifest-codes 

Reclaim the Records, a non profit group of genealogists and historians. They identify genealogical record sets that out to be in the public domain which are being restricted by government archives, libraries, and agencies to get them released to the public.  Here is a recap of their accomplishments in 2025 https://www.reclaimtherecords.org/about/year-in-review-2025/

MyHeritage added 1.2 billion historical records in December 2025 across 27 new and updated collections. More information is available on their blog post.  https://blog.myheritage.com/2026/01/myheritage-adds-1-2-billion-historical-records-in-december-2025/

Topotehque Our Memories is a collaborative online platform hosting individual 'topotheques' from across Europe, where communities share private historical collections like old photographs, letter, and documents. https://www.topothek.at/en/