Full Text
The Importance of Vital Records The primary objective of the vital records function of the City Clerk’s Department is to obtain and preserve documentary evidence concerning births, marriages and deaths that is necessary to protect the legal rights of individuals. Birth certificates are necessary to enroll in school, apply for driver or marriage licenses, to secure a passport or travel visa, to participate in many athletic programs and to apply for social security and other public program benefits. Death certificates are necessary for many critical legal functions, including burial procedures and the processing of insurance benefits, estate settlement, and transfer of stocks, bonds, personal property and real estate. For these reasons there is a continuous demand for certified copies of birth, marriage and death certificates in Lewiston. The Department issues over 11,500 certified copies on an annual basis. The chief monument to the history of a city is its public archives. Preservation of archives is universally recognized as a proper and natural function of government. Public records are public property, and stewardship over records is a government responsibility vital to the public trust. The City’s public records are owned by the people in the same sense that citizens own City Hall, the Public Library, the parks, the streets and sidewalks, the funds in the treasury.