You are here
Retention and Disposition Schedules
State agency retention and disposition schedules:
All agency records must be scheduled prior to destruction, temporary storage at the State Records Center, or permanent transfer to the State Archives. Agencies should email us at recmgmt@nysed.gov for copies or listings of current agency-specific schedules or to update obsolete or inaccurate schedule items. The State Archives appraises records and acquires, preserves, and makes available agency records of enduring historical or research value.

- General Schedule for common administrative, fiscal, and personnel records of all state agencies. Agencies that have not already adopted the General Schedule and wish to do so may complete and submit the General Schedule Adoption Form.
- State Agency Records Disposition Request Forms for developing retention schedules to cover unique records not found in the General Schedule
- State University of New York (SUNY) schedule for SUNY campuses and SUNY System Administration records
Local government retention and disposition schedules:
The State Archives revised and consolidated its local government records retention and disposition schedules and issued a single, comprehensive retention schedule for all types of local governments on August 1st, 2020. The new schedule, Retention and Disposition Schedule for New York Local Government Records (LGS-1), supersedes and replaces the CO-2, MU-1, MI-1, and ED-1 Schedules. Local governments must adopt the LGS-1 prior to utilizing it, even if they adopted and have been using the existing schedules, and will have until January 1st, 2021 to do so. For adopting the LGS-1, a fillable PDF copy of a model resolution form is available. For more information, visit our LGS-1 press release and List of Major Revisions.
Local governments are responsible for preserving and making available records marked as permanent on the schedule and those they have determined to have historical value. While the State Archives can provide guidance on appraising local government records for their enduring historical or research value, local governments should consult the Archives' publication titled Appraisal of Local Government Records for Historical Value (Pub #50). For more information contact your Regional Advisory Officer (RAO) or the Scheduling Unit for assistance.
New Local Government Schedule
- cities
- towns
- villages
- fire districts
- counties
- school districts
- BOCES
- teacher resource and computer training centers
- county vocational education and extension boards
- miscellaneous local governments
Superseded Local Government Schedules
- CO-2 schedule for counties
- ED-1 schedule for school districts, BOCES, and other educational governments
- MU-1 schedule for municipalities, including fire districts
- MI-1 schedule for all miscellaneous governments
Retention and disposition of County Board of Elections records
The Retention and Disposition Schedule: Election Records for Use by New York County Boards of Elections, originally issued in 1996 and revised in 2013, covers the disposition of records of Boards of Elections created under the Election Law (including general elections held in November and administered by county boards of elections). County Boards of Elections will have continuing legal authorization to dispose of records listed on the schedule after they 1) formally adopt the schedule by resolution and 2) submit a copy of the resolution to the State Board of Elections. A model resolution is available on page 8 of the Schedule below.
Records that pertain to elections not conducted under New York State Election Law, including elections not conducted as part of a general election and administered by municipalities or school districts, are covered under the Election section of the LGS-1.
County Boards of Elections Schedule
Retention and disposition of court records
- the State Archives acquires pre-1848 records of trial and appellate courts and post-1847 records of certain appellate courts, including the State Court of Appeals.
- each county clerk has custody of the records of the supreme or county court in his or her respective county.
- records and dockets of town and village courts are “the property of the village or town of the residence of such justice” (per Uniform Justice Court Law § 2019-a). Upon retirement, all village or town justices must file the records in their custody in the office of the clerk of their respective village or town courts. In the case of the abolishment of a village court, the active records must deposited with the town court to see through to the disposition of the case, but disposed cases remain with the village for the duration of their retention periods.
Retention and disposition of legislative records
Retention and disposition of non-government records