created by an office of the city, town, county, state, or federal government are
usually kept in repositories. These repositories have birth, death, marriage,
divorce, land records, court records, military, immigration, naturalization,
passport, business licenses, etc.
Not all public
records are kept forever. For example, most states keep the most recent years of
driver license applications but dispose of the earlier records. Some records
have been destroyed by wars and natural disasters.
Some public records
have been microfilmed and can be borrowed from the Family History Library or
from a public library through Interlibrary Loan.
can I find my father’s discharge papers from WWII?
father was in the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) when he was a teenager, where
would these records be located?
heard that my uncle was a sheriff or marshal in the frontier town of Bisbee,
Arizona (or some other place). Can you help me locate proof of this?
mother was a nurse (or doctor), can you help me find records of this?
great-grandmother died in a state asylum. Are there records available?
To ask these or
similar questions, click on Help Me!, fill
out the form that comes up, and submit your questions.
also the section on court records
, immigration and naturalization,
church records, military records, cemetery, mortuary, and funeral home records, business and institutional, and hospital records.