The New Jersey Death Index is now onlineWhy should these records be available if you're onsite at the state archives, but not available on the Internet?
The New Jersey Death Index is now onlineThe New Jersey Death Index for 1901-2017 (with some gaps) is now online for free public use. The actual PDF’s of the image files are stored at the Internet Archive. Previously, only a few years of the death index were available, 1901-1903, and those were only available thanks to an earlier records request we made to the New Jersey State Archives.
On May 29, 2018, Reclaim The Records made a New Jersey Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request of the New Jersey Department of Health, through our attorney CJ Griffin of New Jersey law firm Pashman Stein Walder Hayden. We asked for a copy of the New Jersey death index from 1904-2017. The text of the request, as submitted through the state’s official OPRA portal, is reproduced here:
On behalf of my client, Reclaim the Records, please consider this an OPRA and common law request. My client seeks the New Jersey Death Index from Jan 1, 1904 to present date. The death index is simply an index of names of individuals who have died and it may contain a date of death and death certificate number. The NJ State Archives has released years 1901-1903, but no records are available after that. Please note we are not seeking death certificates, just a death index. More recent years may exist as electronic data and, if it exists in that form, then we seek that electronic data.
The New Jersey State Department of Health actually responded to our attorney’s request in record time, and without a fight. We’re guessing that they probably looked her up online and realized we’d hired the most badass OPRA attorney in the state, and then wisely decided not to stonewall or ignore us.
This was a far cry from their attitude a year ago when genealogist Alec Ferretti tried to get a copy of the very same death index from the New Jersey Department of Health on his own. Oh no, said an attorney for the state to Alec, we can’t just give you a copy of the death index! Why, we have rules about mortality data, and privacy! So very many rules!
Well, this is why Reclaim The Records is constantly fundraising so that we can hire attorneys — because while the various state Freedom of Information laws are supposed to treat all citizens fairly, in practice it seems that the citizens with attorneys get treated just a little better.
So, we drafted a new OPRA request, and our attorney sent it out under her name, and this time the state didn’t fight us. Funny how that works, right?
Anyway, the New Jersey Department of Health sent us every death index record they had, delivered as files on a USB stick. But it turns out that even the state Department of Health, who are legally required to keep these records, don’t actually have all of them anymore. Even though that’s, like, their job.
We were able to get all of the New Jersey death index records for about half of 1920-1924, all of 1925-1929, and then from 1949 to 2017! The files prior to 2001 are available in PDF format, each of them scanned images of typeset pages and old dot-matrix printouts. And the newer files from 2001-2017 are in two text spreadsheet (.CSV) files exported from the state’s own databases, and are text-searchable immediately.
But come on, who wants to sit and tediously search through spreadsheets? Nah, let’s do something better with all that data.
Your one-stop shop for everything you ever wanted to know about the New Jersey Death Index, with a searchable database of over 1.2 million records for 2001-2017 and direct links to over 500,000 digital images for the not-yet-transcribed 1901-2000 data. It’s all there and it’s all free, free, free!
So, just to be clear, the following years of the New Jersey death index are still missing at the moment: 1904-1919, half of 1920-1924, and 1930-1948. So we at Reclaim The Records have reached out to the awesome and helpful people at the New Jersey State Archives in Trenton, and it seems likely that we may be able to get some of the missing years of data from them, although maybe just the early years. We’re planning to order microfilms copies from them, then scan those films, and then put that missing data online. But this probably won’t happen for another few months.
So that means that we might be able to get some or all of 1904-1919 and/or the missing half of 1920-1924 online in a few more months. We’ll know more details about the exact years soon.
But that would still leave 1930-1948 as missing any index at all. So we’re also going to keep working with our attorney to see if we can somehow force the New Jersey Department of Health to recreate those missing years of the index. We can’t ask them to do that under OPRA, because the law doesn’t require an agency to make a new record, only to release what records they have. But maybe the New Jersey vital records law or some other law can help us out here, since perhaps we could prove that the state has neglected something they’re required to do.
This tactic may or may not work, but we think it’s at least worth a try, and we’ll let you know how it goes.
Quite a lot! Some years of this death index have more fields of data available than other years, and it tends to get more helpful the more recent the record is. For example, most of the years of the index will at least give the age at death, from which you can infer an approximate birth year, but the later years of the index (after about 1985) also give the deceased person’s exact date of birth.
Some of these records give a numeric locality code for the place of death and/or the place of residence of the deceased. To translate those codes into the city or county names, use this locality list for 1949-1984 or this locality list for 1985-present. Unfortunately, the official key to the locality codes that was used prior to 1949 seems to be yet another file that has been lost by the state.
But don’t just wait for us to tell you about the data — go see for yourself at www.NewJerseyDeathIndex.com!
State or Vital Records Jurisdiction: New Jersey
Record Years: 1904-2017 (with gaps)
Record Format: Index
Record Physical Format: Combination of PDF's (of scanned images) and two CSV files
Number of Records (Estimated): About 1.2 million database records from 2001-2017, and about 500,000 images from 1904-2000 (with gaps)
Journalists in Massachustts have long used state records to check whether police or public officials have histories of lots of crashes, tickets and OUIs. The state RMV says those records are now closed, citing a clause in the law allowing migrants to obtain driver's licenses.
congratulations to Hachette on their pivotal role in the expansion of book piracy i guess
And another downside is when the vendor who holds the newly-digitized records -- confirmed to be public records by a state ombudsman -- decides they would rather SUE the person requesting copies than comply.
(Vendor: @Ancestry, state: PA, case: ongoing!)
https://twitter.com/opengovva/status/1831316282417062206
There's no newsletter today, but you might want to give this article a read. It's about outsourcing govt record storage. The upside is cost/efficiency. The downside is not being able to search/retrieve records then passing the costs onto record requesters.
Happy (not!) OPRA Gut Bill Day!
You now need to file your #OPRA requests a bit differently. No, you don't have to use the clunky PDF form--you can still send an email. But now you MUST include certain information in the email or it can be denied:
This is a fantastic video lecture that combines so many of our favorite things: FOIA, NARA, computers, and a government agency that first pretended it didn't have the records but then claimed it couldn't access an old format! But with a happy ending!
In which we give a nice interview to Lisa Louise Cooke at @FamilyTreeMag about our work, and some of the crazier reactions to it:
At 11:32 pm eastern time, ICE sent me an email acknowledging a #FOIA request I filed in 2019 that they haven't even started to process yet and asked me that dreaded question: "Are you still interested?"
The FOIA is so effing broken. These agencies will try to wear you down.
Remember this case? Cause we did!
Coming very, very soon, to a certain federal agency that never follows up on their genealogy-related FOIA backlog. 😎
. just as soon as we finish collating several hundred exhibits' worth of proof. 🫢
https://x.com/ReclaimTheRecs/status/1184266391144108033
We've been wrestling with ways to get really important historical and genealogical records out of *states* whose state-level FOI laws often (alas) explicitly exclude the judiciary and their wonderful records (many of which ought to be in archives).
https://x.com/FreeLawProject/status/1815798812742385775
🚨LEGISLATION ALERT: NEW JERSEY ABOUT TO GUT RECORDS ACCESS FOR GENEALOGISTS?🚨(and journalists and historians too, but let’s just focus on the genealogists here for a minute) Hello from your muckraking troublemaking suing-the-government-for-free-genealogical-records friends at Reclaim The Records! We write today with some very frustrating news — but also a chance to save future records access and transparency in the Garden State.The state of New Jersey, where we have successfully acquired and freely released millions of records in recent years, is trying to amend their state-level Freedom of Information law, which they call the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), through bills S2930/A4045. This controversial plan was pulled from the state Appropriations Committee just a few hours ago, but it’s not dead yet by any means, not unless we all work to stop it.This bill to gut the power of the state’s public records law has sparked considerable concern among genealogists, historians, journalists, and champions for government transparency. This call to action provides a detailed explanation of what’s at stake, why it matters, and how we, as a community dedicated to reclaiming and preserving public records, can stand against it.*** Why is New Jersey’s existing law so good for records access? ***Our successful endeavor to unlock the New Jersey Marriage Index (1901-2016) under OPRA serves as a testament to the power of strong public records laws. Back in 2017, when we first tried to get a copy of this data, the New Jersey Department of Health (DOH) refused to release the index, and we prepared to file suit. However, in the end, all we had to do was file a strongly worded appeal with the Government Records Council, because as soon as the Attorney General’s Office got involved, they settled the case with us and produced the records. We promptly posted more than 100 years of New Jersey marriage indexes online, for free, for everyone. Hooray, pork rolls and salt water taffy for everyone!A few months later, we again leveraged this state law, OPRA, to obtain the first-ever New Jersey Death Index for a similar timespan. This time around, the DOH responded promptly to our wonderful open records attorney, CJ Griffin, of Pashman Stein, and the state produced everything they had, again without our actually having to drag them into court, which was a nice change from some of its more cantankerous neighbor states.One of the reasons these two efforts went so relatively smoothly is that unlike many other states’ open records laws, New Jersey’s OPRA mandates that someone who wins a records access lawsuit against the state deserves to have their attorneys fees paid by the state. Because of this, state government agencies are more hesitant to blatantly break the law and wrongly withhold records from the public, because they know they will be on the hook for the fees if they lose the case.But the newly-proposed bill would change that, and make it so that even a totally winning lawsuit against a state agency merely "might" get their attorneys fees reimbursed for their troubles. This would chill the ability of requestors to challenge agencies that wrongly withhold records, because let’s face it, lawsuits are not cheap, and a lot of people would be hesitant or flat-out unable to sue if they knew they wouldn’t get reimbursed for doing the right thing.So we do have a good amount of genealogical material already open from New Jersey, free for everyone, everywhere, forever, and it’s specifically thanks to this law, OPRA. But now the state wants to hobble this awesome public records law in cement shoes and sink it in the Pinelands.*** The Imminent Threats to Genealogical Research ***At the core of the bills lies a series of amendments that not only redefines what constitutes a public record, but also dismantles the mechanisms that hold governmental agencies accountable for denying access without just cause.Our friends (and likely yours) at the Association of Professional Genealogists (the APG) have vocally opposed the proposed revisions, underscoring the dire implications for genealogists and historical researchers. The broadening of "personal identifying information" definitions threatens to severely limit access to essential historical records. These documents, crucial for understanding family origins, could become inaccessible or heavily redacted. The proposed changes could turn professional genealogists, inadvertently caught in the widened net of "data brokers," into unwitting violators of the law, merely for doing their jobs.Moreover, the potential exemption of "draft" documents from public access opens a Pandora’s box of subjectivity, allowing agencies to withhold anything under this ambiguous label. The procedural hurdles introduced by the amendments—such as delaying the start of request processing until "official receipt" by a custodian—pose significant barriers, designed to frustrate and delay the pursuit of information.The draft law goes on to provide for the exemption of metadata from disclosure, which is particularly concerning for genealogists who rely on searchable indexes and comprehensive datasets to conduct thorough historical research. It’s very possible that if this law is signed, the genealogy community will no longer be able to obtain any new vital records indices from New Jersey, as the state may consider an index to be "metadata." That would be a huge and terrible change from our successful efforts in the past few years.*** So, what are we doing about this? ***"Put your makeup on / fix your hair up pretty / and meet me tonight in Atlantic City" — the BossWell of course we’re doing something about this. We don’t know if it’s going to work, but we’re trying. First of all, we’re telling all of you about this situation, so that those of you who live in Jersey can call your legislators and voice your opinions — more on that below. But we’re also doing what we’re traditionally good at doing, which is to say fighting for records (while we still can).Although uncertified copies of vital records (bizarrely called certifications) are generally public in New Jersey, the DOH may try to use the passage of this new gutting-public-records-requests law to derail our request for the indexes. If the law is signed by the governor, we may be never get vital records indexes out of New Jersey ever again.So, earlier this week, we at Reclaim The Records submitted a brand new OPRA request to the New Jersey Department of Health for the state birth index. Yes, the New Jersey birth index, the whole thing. We already have the death index and marriage index, so we may as well complete the set, right? While we were recently able to obtain and release the New Jersey Geographic Birth Index from 1900-1930 from old microfilms at the wonderful and amazing New Jersey State Archives back in 2021, the state DOH still maintains the rest of the birth index, up to the present day.And that’s not the only OPRA request we’re trying to get in under-the-wire, although our other efforts are a little more complicated and going to be kept quiet for now. But in addition to the birth index, we’re also making new OPRA requests that we perhaps would not have considered before, simply to try to beat the clock on the new law. We know that the requests might not work, or might have to become lawsuits, and this bill could become reality at any time. But we have to try.*** And Here’s How You Can Make a Difference ***This moment calls for action from each member of our community, especially those who live in New Jersey. If you are a resident, please reach out to your New Jersey legislators to voice your opposition to any changes to OPRA. Send them an email, and call their offices during business hours. Emphasize the importance of OPRA for genealogical research, historical documentation, and the public’s right to know. Share stories of how access to public records has enriched your life or the lives of others, and stress the negative impact these amendments could have on future research. Explain that the bill’s changes to the state law’s definitions of both "metadata" and "personal identifying information" could severely limit access to historical and genealogical records.And be sure to send a copy of any messages to Governor Murphy as well, and urge him to veto any possible legislation that crosses his desk! His office even has a “Text Governor Murphy” service, reachable at: (732) 605-5455.In the face of these kinds of challenges, your support for Reclaim The Records is more critical than ever. Together, we can continue to fight for transparency, challenge unjust barriers to information, and keep the annals of history open to everyone. As a non-profit organization, we rely on the generosity of our community to continue our advocacy and litigation efforts.The fight against these amendments transcends the interests of genealogists and historians; it is a fight for the soul of open government and democratic accountability. The proposed changes threaten to erect a wall between the public and the information that belongs to it by right, hindering not only our understanding of our past but our ability to scrutinize our present and influence our future.With determination and hope for the future, even in the face of extremely annoying potential law changes…-your friends at Reclaim The Records
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