Wonderful this is going to be done - should have been many moons ago BUT
bad because I'm afraid ancestry will just raise their prices again which
are getting unreasonable but wanted to let ya' know this will be
available soon :)
Governor Pence Announces State Partnership with
Ancestry.com
To:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 23, 2014
Contacts:
Governor's office: Kara Brooks
kbrooks(a)gov.in.gov <mailto:kbrooks@gov.in.gov>
State Archives: Jim Corridan
jcorridan(a)icpr.in.gov <mailto:jcorridan@icpr.in.gov>
*Governor Pence Announces State Partnership with Ancestry.com*
/Will Digitize 13 Million Birth, Death, and Marriage Certificates by
2016 Bicentennial/
Indianapolis -- The State of Indiana, through the Indiana Commission on
Public Records (State Archives) has entered into a contract with
Ancestry.com to digitize and eventually post online more than 13 million
birth certificates, death certificates, and marriage records for access
by Hoosiers. These online historical records, those older than 75 years,
will start to become available in 2015, with the completion date
expected by the State's Bicentennial in 2016. This will be the largest
online collection of the State of Indiana's materials ever digitized.
"As we head toward the 2016 Bicentennial and celebrate Indiana's past,
this initiative serves not only present-day Hoosiers by improving
accessibility to records, but also future Hoosiers as they look back at
state history," Governor Pence said.
This partnership saves the State of Indiana more than $3.2 million---the
cost to index, scan, and make accessible the materials, and would have
taken the state more than a decade to complete. It also provides another
mechanism to both access the records and preserve the remaining
originals from excessive use and degradation, and provides an additional
copy in case original copies are destroyed.
For the last two years, the Indiana Commission on Public Records has
been working with the Indiana State Department of Health's (ISDH) Vital
Records office to achieve this partnership. Both the ISDH and State
Archives will receive a copy of the digital images and indexes---ISDH
will use its copy to improve service to Hoosiers by streamlining the
process of accessing records and providing official copies to citizens,
while State Archives will provide access to the records more than 75
years old at its facility.
Ancestry.com also will provide access to its
members for the historical records when the project is completed.
The birth and death certificates date back to the early 1900s, and the
State's marriage records from 1958 through 2005.