Brent Tarter wrote: > Over the past weekend when none of the Library of Virginia subscribers was > in the office to take notice of the discussion of clerks and county records, > a good many inexact comments got posted that may be misleading. > > I do not know all the answers, but I will make some inquiries and try to get > more details. > > For the nonce, all the deed, order, and will books and some other county > records compiled prior to 1865 have been microfilmed and are available at > the Library of Virginia and elsewhere. Nobody needs permission from anybody > to consult them. Post-1865 records of a similar sort for some counties have > also been filmed. Consult the Library of Virginia's web site at > http://www.lva.lib.va.us and click open the index to the letter C and look > for the county records site. > > There are many other classes of local records that the clerks of the courts > or the clerks of the cities and counties preserve, although some of those > clerks have transferred their holdings to the archives at the Library of > Virginia. In most instances, I suspect, the difficulties that some > researchers have encountered in getting access to records involved some of > these documents, which include suit papers, other unbound records, and the > like. > > Virginia law has always appeared to me (a non-lawyer) to be at war with > itself. The public records act and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act > (why does everybody always assume that the Feds control everything?) specify > that these are public documents to which the citizens of Virignia have > access. However, the laws also make the clerks custodians of those records, > with the result that some clerks do not make it easy for the public to get > that access. I think people (citizens of Virginia, certianly) should be > politely persistent in pursuit of their right to consult public documents. > > Freedom of Information actions to gain access to documents should be > necessary only in cases involving documents about which there is some > question as to the legal status of the records, whether they are privileged > or classed as working papers; but in practice it does not always work out > that way. > > In some other instances, portions of a run of a court's or a county's or a > city's records may be closed for archival processing, but that is (or ought > to be) always a temporary thing. > > I will try to find out some more and let you know. In the meantime, please > don't assume that an experience in one place with one group of records > governs what may happen with another group of records or in another place. > > Brent Tarter > The Library of Virginia > [log in to unmask] > > Visit the Library of Virginia's web site at http://www.lva.lib.va.us > > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at > http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html. Brent, Something you did not mention in your informative message - Clerks are elected officials. Bill Lassetter Charlottesville, Va. To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html.