Hi Everyone,
I am passing along the information below, because it should be of interest to all
genealogical and historical researchers of Massachusetts (and other locations, since there
might be a domino effect). If you happen to reside in MA, please consider contacting your
representatives about this bill. Every voice counts!
--Ann
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MASSACHUSETTS GENEALOGICAL COUNCIL (MGC)
P.O. Box 5393
Cochituate, MA 01778
www.massgencouncil.org
ALERT ALERT ALERT
MGC urges all genealogists who care about access to vital records to act
now!
Legislative bills (H-3642, H-3643, and H-3644, petitioned by Plymouth
Rep. Thomas J. OBrien, et al.), currently pending in the Massachusetts
House Ways and Means Committee, are being pushed for passage within two
weeks. They will close public records that have been open for nearly 400
years as well as the indexes to them.
We all must contact our Massachusetts state Representatives and Senators
to oppose these three (OBrien) bills for the following reasons:
The bills call for restricting access to all birth records since 1915
and all marriage and death records since 1955. These records are
currently open public records and are the entry point for genealogical
and medical history research.
Restricting public access to the indexes of these records is
unprecedented. It will deny use by all non-governmental individuals:
researchers in genealogy, medical history, probate heirs, banks,
journalists, and historians.
Contact should be made immediately. We stopped these bills in 2003 but
now support for them in the legislature is formidable.
If YOU dont speak now, these bills will change the face of genealogy in
Massachusetts and beyond.
MOST EFFECTIVE: a signed letter with your reasons for opposing these
closures, using your own words.
To view a sample letter for your legislators, click here
http://home.comcast.net/~massgencouncil/ConstituentLetter.htm
ALSO: telephone calls, face to face meetings, and e-mails.
SHARE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT: urge your sympathetic relatives, friends,
neighbors, and the professionals listed above to do the same.
Contact information for your representatives and senators is available at:
http://www.mass.gov/legis/
your town clerk
the state house at (617) 722-2000
the postal address is:
Representative (or Senator) _______, State House, Room _______, Boston,
MA 02133.
If you have any questions, please respond to Sharon Sergeant, MGC
Director of Programs, and member of the MGC Civil Records Committee or
visit our website at
www.massgencouncil.org