Records Advocate - Educating Genealogists About Open Access

Update on NARA Regional facility in Seattle, Washington

April 12, 2021April 12, 2021Linda McCleary Comment

In the 13 February 2021 RPAC blog on the “Sale and Closure of Seattle’s National Archives Facility Blocked by Federal Judge” (www.recordsadvocate.org/sale-and-closure-of-seattles-national-archives-facility-blocked-by-federal-judge/), RPAC [...]

Georgia House Bill 92: Vital Records

February 24, 2021March 1, 2021Linda McCleary Comment

During Georgia’s 2019-2020 Legislative Session, Senate Bill 372, Section 5, raised the embargo dates of birth records from 100 to 125 years and [...]

Sale and Closure of Seattle’s National Archives Facility Blocked by Federal Judge

February 13, 2021Linda McCleary Comment

RPAC thanks Barbara Mathews for alerting us to this action. As reported in the 6 December 2020 RPAC blog by Jan Alpert, RPAC [...]

Cautiously Optimistic about the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) Record Search Fee Increase

February 10, 2021February 15, 2021Linda McCleary Comment

RPAC thanks Judy Russell, the Legal Genealogist, for alerting us to Executive Order 14012, Restoring Faith in Our Legal Immigration Systems. [www.legalgenealogist.com/] In [...]

Records Challenges –Issues and Opportunities in 2021

January 18, 2021March 4, 2021Fred Moss Comment

As the New Year began, there were three major pending issues of concern to the genealogical community. Recent legislative developments, when combined with [...]

State of Washington Plans to Fight Plans to Sell the Seattle National Archives Branch Building

December 6, 2020December 9, 2020Jan Alpert Comment

On 4 December 2020, Washington State Attorney General, Bob Ferguson, announced he intends to try and prevent the sale of the National Archives [...]

New York City Skyline with Statue of Liberty

New York City Proposed Rules Change: Licensing Fees for Reuse of Public Documents

October 17, 2020December 1, 2020Jan Alpert Comment

RPAC wants to thank Jan Meisels Allen and the IAJGS Records-Alert http://lists.iajgs.org/mailman/listinfo/records-access-alerts for bringing the proposed regulations from the New York City Department [...]

FGS and National Park Service Announce Launch of US-Mexican War Soldier & Sailor Database.

January 18, 2020December 2, 2020RPAC 2

Federation of Genealogical Societies and National Park Service Announce launch of U.S.-Mexican War Soldier & Sailor Database January 14, 2020 – Austin, TX. [...]

USCIS Outrageous Fee Increase

December 9, 2019December 6, 2020RPAC Comment

You have all likely seen some mention of an outrageous proposed fee increase by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). Essentially [...]

RPAC at FGS 2019 in DC — Is This A Breakthrough?

August 20, 2019December 3, 2020Fred Moss Comment

The FGS Annual Conference being held this week at the Omni Shoreham hotel in DC will feature a Records Preservation and Access Committee report on Thursday [...]