The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is
copyright 2003 by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the
permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at
http://www.RootsForum.com.
[This is for your information. It sounds like the plan is for an online
service [provided that there are no budget cutbacks] but there will be NO
service for awhile.]
This week seems to be crowded with news about cutbacks in state archives
staff and resources. However, the State of Maryland appears to actively be
converting expensive, labor-intensive tasks to automated, self-serve
formats. Specifically, the Maryland State Archives has announced that it is
suspending its research for a fee related to birth and death records. The
reference staff will continue to accept vital record orders only for legal
purposes or for official business (estate settlement, social security,
passports, citizenship). In place of filling these requests manually, the
Maryland State Archives is developing Web access.
Quoting from the Maryland State Archives Web site:
Diminishing staff resources over the past few years and
budget shortfalls compel us to look for ways to provide more efficient
service. The suspension of vital records research will allow our reduced
staff to focus on providing vital record indexes in a searchable, web-based
environment while better preserving these permanent records. If you would
like to support our efforts to make birth and death record indexes more
broadly available via the internet, please consider donating to the
Endowment Fund of the State Archives Fund. Your tax-deductible donation by
check to that fund will be used to develop this invaluable resource.
Please address any questions or concerns to
vitalrec(a)mdarchives.state.md.us . We thank you for your patience and
understanding in this matter.
Sincerely,
Edward C. Papenfuse, Ph.D.
State Archivist and Commissioner of Land Patents
The same Web site then states that over the next year, the Maryland State
Archives intends to provide online access to death record index information
to improve accessibility and to preserve the original records. Digital
access will include:
County Death Record Indexes, 1898-1944 - to be available in
October, 2003
Baltimore City Death Record Indexes, 1875-1942 - to be
available in December, 2003
Baltimore City Death Record Indexes, 1942-1972 - to be
available in March, 2004
County Death Record Indexes, 1944-1951 - to be available in
June, 2004
County Death Record Indexes, 1951-1968 - to be available in
September, 2004
For county death records after 1968, and for Baltimore City
death records after 1972 - to be available in by 2005
Birth record indexes - to be available after 2005
As the indexes become available, the Reference staff will reply to copy
orders that provide exact citations from the online indexes.