The International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies has a great interest in monitoring legislation that might limit access to genealogical source materials.
We have therefore established a Public Records Access Monitoring Committee to share information about new legislation and any threat it may pose to genealogical researchers having access to the records they need to be successful in searching out their Jewish ancestry.
The Committee Members
- Jan Meisels Allen, Committee Chairperson, JGS Conejo Valley and Ventura County (JGSCV), California, USA
- Teven Laxer, JGS Sacramento, California, USA
- Mark Nicholls, JGS of Great Britain, Edgeware, Middlesex, UK
- Catherine Youngren, Jewish Genealogical Society of British Columbia, Canada
- Herbert "Bert" Lazerow, Esq., San Diego JGS, California, USA
- Jane Rosen Berenbeim, ex officio, President of IAJGS, New York, USA
Contact the PRAMC by email at pramc@iajgs.org.
Documents and Information about Records Access
- PRAMC Charter
- Annual Report, 2022 (PDF)
- Worldwide Privacy Regulations Restricting Access to Genealogical Records - Public Records Access Session at the 38th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, 2018 (PowerPoint, PDF of the PowerPoint, Handout)
- Public Records Access Alerts Mailing List: Open to all interested parties. IAJGS membership not required. (Register)
- Ancestry Interviews Jan Meisels Allen about RPAC and why its advocacy efforts are critical to family historians.
- Interview: Jan Meisels Allen was a guest on Thomas MacEntee's Geneabloggers radio in January 2012 speaking about RPAC and records access. Listen to the interview. (MP3, use right-click to save as)
- Article: Restriction of Access to Records Is Increasing Threat to Genealogical Research, by Jan Meisels Allen. (Part 1, Part 2)
This article first appeared in the Fall 2013 issue of AVOTAYNU. - Microfilm Unit Records Onsite Review at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) (PDF)
- Recent Archival Accessions Brochure of the NPRC (PDF)
- RPAC Archival Records Brochure, May 2013 (PDF)
- Links to Legislative Websites
The IAJGS along with the rest of the genealogical community are concerned that legislators and regulators believe that access to vital records is a cause for identity theft, however, there is no proof that access to records is the cause of identity theft. We believe access to public records must remain open.
The IAJGS has joined with other genealogical organizations including the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), National Genealogical Society (NGS), and The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) in endorsing the position paper and calling on legislators to keep records open.
A group of professional genealogists within APG formed the Keeping Genealogical Records Open Workgroup (KGROW) in 2007 and prepared the position paper. "The Case for Open Public Records". The KGROW committee recommends in their paper that “lawmakers respond to the ID theft problem, not try to prevent a nonexistent problem.” Further, they encourage “private companies and government improve their protection of personal data.” The Case for Open Public Records position paper is available at: https://apgen.org/publications/press/APG-KGROW.pdf.
Historical Documents
- Annual Reports (all PDF): 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
- Will You Be Able To Get The Records? - Public Records Access Session at the 36th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, 2016 (PowerPoint, PDF of the PowerPoint, Handout)
- AJGS Conference Public Records Access Sessions: 2011 (PowerPoint, PDF Version), 2013 (PowerPoint, PDF Version, Handout), 2014 (PowerPoint, PDF Version, Handout)
