Adoption records maintained by the Family Court or the Surrogate's Court are permanently sealed pursuant to the Domestic Relations Law Section 114. The records may be disclosed only by a judge's order "on good cause and on due notice to the adoptive parents and to such additional persons as the court may direct."
The State Archives has created a probate pathfinder to help researchers determine where to locate New Yorkers' probate records, which include wills, estate inventories, and letters of administration relating to deceased persons' estates. In addition, the State Archives publication on probate records provides a concise explanation of the records in the State Archives which pre-date 1787, their location and how to access them.
Every year the State Archives receives dozens of requests, such as the one above, for "the file" on someone. The good news is that the State of New York does not keep "files" on all of its citizens; thus there are none in the Archives. Searchers can try many "person finders" on the internet such as Switchboard or WhoWhere. Also a private investigator, licensed by the Department of State, can be hired.
The New York State Archives holds historical records of New York State government. The New York State Library holds a very large collection of newspapers. For more information about that collection visit the State Library's web site.
Microfilmed schedules of the US Census of Population 1790-1920 are available at the National Archives and its branches. For further information go to the National Archives web site. Copies of the microfilmed US Census schedules for New York State are available at the New York State Library and at other large research libraries around the state. (Contact each library for information about its holdings.)
Immigration records and ship passenger records are federal government records. Recent immigration records are held by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Older immigration records, including ship passenger lists, are held by the National Archives.
Contact DOH Vitals (Vital Records Section, NYS Department of Health, Empire State Plaza, Albany NY 12237, tel. 855-322-1022 [toll free]) for such records from outside NYC. Also try their website: http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/consumer/vr.htm For New York City events, contact the NYC Department of Health (Vital Records, NYC Department of Health, 125 Worth Street / Box 10, NY, NY 10013, (212) 788-5300) for such events in the city.
For information on HSE/GED testing, results, or to obtain a copy of a transcript or high school equivalency diploma, contact the State Education Department HSE Testing Office:
89 Washington Avenue
PO Box 7348
Albany, NY 12224-0348
phone - (518) 474-5906
email - hse@nysed.gov
website - http://www.acces.nysed.gov/hse/duplicate-diplomas-andor-transcripts
Guide to the BEDS Institutional Master File.
The guide describes the Grievance Tracking System (GTS), 1984-1990. The Governor's Office of Employee Relations created the GTS to collect information on employee grievances and grieved disciplinary proceedings from all New York State Executive Branch agencies from 1984 to 1990. The system contains two master files, the Grievance Data File and the Discipline Data File. Each secondary file within the two master files represents a single year.
The New York State Archives is part of the Office of Cultural Education, an office of the New York State Education Department.