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Home > About
Us > Commissioner's Message
COMMISSIONER'S
MESSAGE FROM BRIAN G. ANDERSSON
 Welcome
to the website for the Department of Records & Information
Services, celebrating the 25th anniversary of our creation
as New York City's archival agency.
We are empowered by Charter
mandate with managing New York City's records. The Department,
through its unique Library, is the provider of information
concerning the government of the City. Through our Records
Management Division, we provide for and facilitate the
professional administration, storage, and retrieval
of the working records for City agencies. Our outstanding
Municipal Archives preserves and provides public access
to the historic records of the city called "The Capital
of the World", which is certainly truer now than at
any other time. Documents of all types detail the history
of our pluralistic form of government and serve as the
collective memory of our great City. Indeed, preserving
the City's records makes possible the transmission of
our democratic cultural heritage to the future generations.
From our earliest Native American, Dutch, and English
roots, these records are priceless, unique, and among
the richest of our legacies.
It is my honor to be so charged with their guardianship.
As a genealogist, I am especially interested in our
extraordinary collection of birth, marriage, death,
and photographic records. This website will endeavor
to showcase some of our treasures. We will be posting
examples of our collection as they relate to New Yorkers
of note. In response to the tremendous growth in the
field of genealogy, and given New York City's role in
the family history of millions of Americans, we seek
to increase our holdings and make them and other items
more accessible.
We are housed in the Old Hall of Records / Surrogate
Court building at 31 Chambers Street, an outstanding
landmark of grand architectural distinction and worthy
of your visit. Please bookmark our site and check back
often.
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