Government Records in the BDC Series

In honor of our nation's upcoming 242nd birthday, government records will be the être la coqueluche du moment of July 2018 in this blog.

Some GoDocs in the BDC

What precisely is a government record? According to the Canadians, "Government records are defined as recorded information in any form, created or received in the conduct of government business and kept as evidence of activities and transactions" which is considerably more straightforward than the definition provided by the U.S. National Archives which states "Records include all books, papers, maps, photographs, machine-readable materials, or other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by an agency of the United States Government under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public business  ... as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the Government."

Given that government records are divided into four broad categories (federal, state, county, and municipal) I will write about:

July 8 - Federal Records in the BDC and on the Web
July 15 - South Carolina Records in the BDC and on the Web
July 22 - Beaufort County Records in the BDC and on the Web
July 29 - Municipal Records in the BDC and on the Web

While I cannot cover all the record series, printed documents, or microfilm available through our collection or database subscriptions (there are simply way too many), I will try to highlight the most interesting, most used, and/or least known of the resources for you.

Feel free to send me any questions that you might have about government records to gracec@bcgov.net. Knowing what you'd like to know about government records will help me write more useful posts.

Reminder: All units of the Beaufort County Library, including the Beaufort District Collection, will be closed on Wednesday, July 4, 2018 for Independence Day. Regular hours resume on Thursday, July 5th.