New York City Department of Records

United States New York  Archives and LibrariesNew York City Department of Records and Information Services

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Contact Information
E-mail: [mailto:http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/html/contact/home.shtml To email commissioner, city hall library, or municipal archives] You can also e-mail the City Hall Library via the Contact Us form.

Address:

Department of Records and Information Services     31 Chambers St      New York, NY 10007  Telephone: For information on Department of Records Services, call 311 or (212) NEW-YORK if outside of New York City. Fax: None available.

Hours and holidays: City Hall Library Christine Bruzzese, Supervising Librarian 31 Chambers St, Room 112 New York, NY 10007

Open to the public Monday, Wednesday, Thursday: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, Friday: 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Holiday Schedule Directions, maps, and public transportation: Directions

Internet sites and databases:


 * [www.nyc.gov/records Home Page]
 * Website

Collection Description
The New York City Department of Records and Information Services is the branch of the municipal government of New York City that organises and stores records and information from the City Hall Library and Municipal Archives. About us

Tips

 * Tips for First Time Visitors We suggest you visit this website before you visit the Municpal Archives to conduct geneology research.
 * Images New online resource. New York City Department of Records Posts 870,000 Photos online going back to the mid-1800s, the photographs feature all manner of city oversight.
 * Birth Certificates The New York State Department of Health does not file and cannot issue copies of New York City birth certificates. For births in one of the five (5) boroughs of New York City (Manhattan, Kings, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island), please visit the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene web site. Please note that the borough of Kings is sometimes referred to as Brooklyn and the borough of Staten Island is sometimes referred to as Richmond.
 * Visit Trip Advisor] Visit Trip Advisor for the latest info and advice before you visit New York City; written for travellers by travellers.
 * New York Research "New York Genealogy: News You can Use in your New York Research. This page gathers news items and tips that could benefit your New York research.

Guides

 * Census Records, Immigrants, &amp; Statistics Goldmine full of guides and articles.  This guide provides resources related to New York City.  Includes tips for deciphering the census records of 1790-1840 and 1850-1930.


 * NYC Research Guide NYC Research Guide, Part One:  Vital Records, Property Records, and Estate Records.


 * Resources "A Guide to Research Resources in New York City." Great and important tips.  The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.


 * Help Help on the New York City Department of Records and Information.

Alternate Repositories
If you cannot visit or find a source at the , a similar source may be available at one of the following.

Overlapping Collections


 * New York Public Library Genealogy Division has an outstanding collection of American history at national, state and local levels; international genealogy and heraldry in Roman alphabets; Dorot Jewish collection; photos; New York censuses, directories, and vital records.
 * New York Public Library Branches over 90 in New York City.
 * New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, national in scope. Over 100 million name database, of vital records, genealogies, journals, over 200,000 books, 100,000 microfilms, and over 20 million manuscripts with emphasis on New England and New York since the 1600s.
 * National Archives Northeast Region (New York City), censuses, Ancestry.com, military, pensions, bounty land, photos, passenger indexes, New York port and shipping, naturalizations, inventions.
 * National Archives Northeast Region (Boston) (that is Waltham), censuses, Ancestry.com, military, pensions, bounty land, photos, passenger indexes, naturalizations, African Americans, Indians.
 * Stadsarchief Amsterdam (Amsterdam Municipal Archives) early Dutch notarial records of New York.

Similar Collections


 * Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, holds 450 computers, 3,400 databases, 3.1 million microforms, 4,500 periodicals, 310,000 books of worldwide family and local histories, civil, church, immigration, ethnic, military, and Mormon records.
 * Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana, premier periodical collection, genealogies, local histories, databases, military, censuses, directories, passenger lists, ethnic collections, and Canadians.
 * Library of Congress, Washington, DC, Local History and Genealogy Reading Room is part of the world's largest library including 50,000 genealogies, 100,000 local histories, manuscripts, microfilms, maps, newspapers, photographs, books, strong in North American, British Isles, and German sources
 * Newberry Library, Chicago, genealogies, local histories, censuses, military, land, indexes, vital records, court, and tax records mostly from the Mississippi Valley, eastern seaboard, Canada, &amp; British Isles.
 * Mid-Continent Public Library Midwest Genealogy Center, Independence, MO, national censuses/indexes, 80,000 family histories, 100,000 local histories, 565,000 microfilms, 7,000 maps, and newspapers.
 * National Archives I, Washington DC, census, pre-WWI military service &amp; pensions, passenger lists, naturalizations, passports, federal bounty land, homesteads, bankruptcy, ethnic sources, prisons.
 * Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, 85,000 volumes about the Jewish Holocaust, largest yizkor book collection.

Neighboring Collections


 * New York State Library, Albany, has local histories, genealogies, atlases, church, cemetery (including DAR), city directories, microfilmed newspapers, censuses, passenger lists, and periodicals.
 * New York State Archives, Albany, has manuscripts, vital record indexes, land grants, maps, military, court, alien depositions, prisoners, Erie Canal passenger lists, wills, estates, and state censuses.
 * New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, New York City has censuses, city directories, church, cemetery, Bible, land, probates, genealogy, local history, and manuscripts.
 * New York Historical Society manuscripts, newspapers, periodicals, histories, directories, maps, photos.
 * Vital Records Section of the New York State Dept. of Health, Menands, NY, for outside New York City births and deaths (1881-present), and marriage licenses (1880-present). Also, all divorces since 1963.
 * Municipal Archives has New York City birth, death, and marriage records; the 1890 police census; city directories; voter registrations; almshouse records; and municipal government records.
 * Courts: city, state, and federal.
 * Brooklyn Historical Society includes finding aids and collections guides to archives, manuscripts, oral histories, photographs, paintings, oral history database, and maps.
 * Columbia University Libraries, history, biography, ethnic studies, newspapers, government documents.
 * Holland Society 7,000 New Netherland family and local history books, Dutch Reformed Church records.
 * Huguenot Historical Society open by appointment: history, settlement, genealogy, biography, theology.
 * YIVO Institute for Jewish Research East European Jewish immigrant studies, gazetteers, yizkor books (Holocaust town memorial books), biographical directories, Landsmanshaft records.
 * Leo Baeck Insitiute preserves family and community histories about Jews in German speaking countries.