A couple of days ago, I shared a website for Cook County, Illinois records – a place which isn’t terribly user-friendly for genealogists.

It seems only fair that today, I share a website for another huge city that also isn’t known for being overly helpful to genealogists. that would be New York City, New York.

Not only does New York State charge some steep fees for accessing historical records, but Reclaim the Records has successfully sued the state in the past over that very issue and won in court.

The New York City government has perhaps finally gotten onboard with sharing its vital records with the public.

The NYC Historical Vital Records Project is a huge database that is still growing with over 10 million records covering from 1855 through 1949.

Birth, marriage and death records are in this searchable collection.

Most users will browse through the search boxes on the left, but if you have a certificate number and surname, the search would begin in the right side boxes.

Now, this browsing function isn’t the quickest to navigate. I’d recommend narrowing down to one borough with a very small range of years because there is no place to enter a surname.

Therefore, results look like this:

Instead of browsing, the browse results page has another Search tab at the top. Click on that and a much more manageable system appears:

These results are much easier to navigate. I didn’t limit the year, but made up the name “John Sabo” and chose Manhattan for the borough. Only 10 results came up:

Notice, though, that the results included “John Sabo” and six men named John who married Sabo wives.

The website is free and offers a great opportunity to search for New York City family members for free. An unofficial record can be saved, but official certified copies can be purchased online.

As with Cook County, I have no family ties to New York City, either, but for those who are seeking NYC ancestors, the NYC Historical Vital Records Project is a terrific place to start.