Friday, June 1, 2007

Godfrey Library provides access to CT VRs

A colleague received this notice from the Godfrey Memorial Library in Middletown CT today:

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Library Members Receive State Approval for Access to Vital Records

The State of Connecticut Department of Public Health issued a letter of approval on May 24, 2007 to Godfrey Memorial Library which allows current members access to Connecticut Vital Records located throughout the state.

According to the Registrar of Vital Records Elizabeth Frugale, "Members must show photographic identification and a valid Godfrey Memorial Library Membership Card before being granted access to vital records."

"We are very pleased to have received this designation from the state. We suggest that all of our local members make use of this great opportunity to further their genealogical research. We encourage every member to abide by the rules of conduct set forth at each town hall," said Library Director Richard Black.

Richard E. Black, Director
Godfrey Memorial Library
134 Newfield Street
Middletown, CT 06457
(860) 346-4375
richard@godfrey.org
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That is excellent! You can join the Godfrey Scholar program for $35 and gain access to Connecticut Vital Records. This has been one state that requires a genealogical society membership in order to access town vital records. I'm not sure if they accept New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) members - does anyone know?

My one try to gain access to Killingly town records ended up positively, even though I wasn't a CT society member. In 1994, I showed up at the former location of the Bugbee Library just as the director walked out to go to the new location - and the new location wasn't open yet. He asked what I was searching for, and when I said cemetery records, he led me to the town clerk office a block away and asked them to help me out. The clerk's office had the cemetery records, plus the Killingly town vital records, and they didn't check any credentials since I came in with the library director. I found quite a few vital records, plus the cemetery records.

As I left, there was a lady working in the other room, and she asked me what surnames I was working on. I said Oatley, White and Richmond in the 1830 to 1900 time frame, and she said she was working on a book about a Dr. Hill who served East Killingly in the 1850 to 1900 time period. I eventually bought her book and found only cryptic references to my people - but he was their doctor!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

A list of genealogical societies that are "'incorporated or authorized to do business or conduct affairs' in Connecticut in accordance with Section 7-51 of the General Statutes of Connecticut" is at
http://www.rootsweb.com
/~ctpgc/genesoc.html .

NEHGS isn't listed.

Joy

Joy Rich
Chapter Representative
New York Metro Chapter
Association of Professional Genealogists
http://www.apgen.org
http://www.apgen.org/chapters/newyork/index.html

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