There’s a field I’m nearly obsessed with and it’s very rare for my age: Genealogy. I’m only 26 and have a degree in computer science, so nearly every site I visit related to genealogy makes me want to cry. Sure, the big ones like Ancestry.com are wonderful, but there’s so many sites out there that would be better in plain text. In a field revolutionized by computers, there is still mountains of information hidden in bad websites or simply not indexed. If I were to strike it rich tomorrow, I’d retire and spend the rest of my days volunteering to help convert some of this information to something more accessible.

And then, I stumbled upon the York County Archives site. WOW. My home town, has as far as I can tell, the best archives site on the earth. After finding their site, I search nearly all the local and major counties I could think of. Not one even came remotely close.

They have most of the records indexed and search-able. When you find a record, it has some information right there. Some very valuable information. This service alone would earn this site as one of my all time favorites, but it gets even better. You can order photocopies of any records listed. Now, you’re probably thinking that has to be expensive, Death Certificates from some counties run $18.00. Nope! Not at http://www.yorkcountyarchives.org/ It’s $1.50 per page for email or fax. If you go there in person it’s 50 cents.  If your total order is under $10, it works on the honor system, and they send you your documents first.

Document From Archives

So, I had to try it. I submitted a request for 3 marriage applications. One containing a relative whom I’ve never been able to find out who his parents were. I hoped for 3 pages of a simple application, one for each marriage, and expected the cost to come in under the honor system of $10, so I could get a quick taste. Well, about an hour later I received an email back explaining that it was 11 pages and thus $16.50. 11 pages! I couldn’t wait to see it. While they only take Discover cards, I was forced to snail mail a check, it arrived a day later. By noon, I had a PDF in my inbox with all 11 pages. Each marriage had the application, the certificate, and parental consent! I know I’m a dork but this was really great.

Lucky for me, the vast majority of my relatives are from York County, so I may have to pay the archives a visit, at the very least I may be ordering a few pages a month for a long time.

How the site became so great is still a mystery to me, I suspected some IT shop won a contract and turned around a great project because compared to the other sites it didn’t seem like archives really worried about their sites. But I can’t find any branding on the website indicating a contractor. If this was an in house project, I’m really grateful for the people at York County Archives.

Thank you York County Archives!