by Assemblymember John Laird (D-Santa Cruz)

Family research. When families gather for the holidays, it presents the unique opportunity to ask about family history—and get information from family members who might not live past the early years of your life's journey.

A couple of weeks ago, I met with the Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz County to discuss Assembly Bill 2719, a bill I authored in 2004. The bill provides a new level of access to information sought by those researching their families. The bill directed the State Archives to make publicly available any and all records that are 75 years or older, regardless of its restriction—and this includes records on people who were once prisoners or wards of the state. This bill more closely aligns California with the laws of other states and the federal government and fulfills the intent of the California Open Records Act, which aids the public's right to access to state records. The governor signed the bill in 2004.

Somewhat unbelievably, the Archives maintains about 92,000 cubic feet of records in all formats. There are significant holdings of photo prints and negatives, cartographic records, audiovisual materials, electronic records and other "non-paper" formats. Each year the collection grows by another 2,500 cubic feet with records donated by all branches of state government.

For various periods of time, dating back to the mid-1800s, it is possible to find key pieces of information that help us come to a more complete understanding of who our family members were.

Thanks to archivists and open public records legislation, there are many kinds of records available: Supreme and Appellate court cases; articles of incorporation; military service; state prisons (sometimes including inmate photos and case files); state mental institutions; local records for some counties (including probate court cases, wills, naturalizations, deeds, homesteads, and vital records); school districts (including student attendance numbers, grades taught, length of school year, school finances, the names of the teachers and even the schools' condition).

To get started with family research, there are myriad books and Web sites available to help with the fundamentals. It helps to have done a significant amount of internal familial research (such as oral histories, dates, locations and relations) prior to approaching the State Archives as a resource, as not many of the newly available records are catalogued or indexed. State Archivists in Sacramento are available to assist the public during their public research hours, which are 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. the first Saturday of each month. Call the general reference number at (916) 653-2246 or e-mail their request to ArchivesWeb@ss.ca.gov. Other resources: State Library (www.library.ca.gov); the Genealogical Society, the Santa Cruz Family History Center on Elk Street; the genealogical room of the downtown branch of Santa Cruz Public Library. So as you spend time with family during this season, AB 2719 and the various state and local research resources might make easier the task of answering the question, "where did my family come from?"