My Trip to the Bureau of Vital Statistics

The BOV is the place where all kinds of records are housed. Birth, Death, Divorce are among the host of records they have on file there. As you may already know from a thorough reading of my web page, they will do a search of these records for you of you are willing to wait. Should you be able to get there, or need the records in a hurry, the trip to downtown Columbus can be fruitful.

My mission was to search Divorce records. The adoptee in question was conceived by a divorced couple for 'old time's sake.' Armed with this knowledge and a last name, I set off for my appointment.

Making the Appointment

If you want to search the records, you must make an appointment. All of these docuements are a matter of public record, yet they make you work fairly hard to get in to see them.

I made an appointment about 3 days before I was scheduled to go to Columbus. I learned that they only let one person in at a time to search the records, and that there are 2 appointments per day, one from 8:00 am to 11:30am, and the other is from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. If you make the appointment, the entire time is yours. You can show up at 10 am for the morning appointment and it will still be yours.

Into the Building

When you arrive at the building, which is at 35 East Chestnut St, across from the Nationwide Building, you have to sign in with a guard. The guard makes you a nice nametag with the floor you are visiting on it so you can't wander too far. The building has a 1950's office building feel to it- no renovations there! The BOV is on the 6th floor, which is accessed by a rather old elevator. Upon arriving at the 6th floor, follow the signs pointing to the right. There you are greeted warmly by the most nondescript room I've ever been in. Brown vinyl chairs line the wall and 2 plain tables are in the middle of the room. On the far side of the room were 3 microfiche machines. There is a glass window, behind which sits the people with the access to all the records, including mine. They seemed startled that I had some questions, but they sort of answered them.

This room is where you can search the records that are on Microfilm, which include births after 1964. I'm not sure what else is on Film. If you know, please email me so I can add to this page.

Official Searching Area™

A woman appeared from nowhere to lead me to the Official Searching Location. I don't know what I expected, but the decor certainly seemed appropriate. I was led down a hallway to a room filled with desks and books lining the walls. I was directed to a table, where I was to take out only 3 books at a time. The table was approximately 2 feet from an employee, which I suppose cuts down on hanky panky.

The books were completely organized by year and last name. I imagine that it would be a lot harder if you didn't know a last name (in which case I would recommend getting a search done for you). I got out the years in question and was able to find what I needed in a rather short time. When I was done I went out to the first room and looked at the Birth Index. After 1964, they are on Microfiche, which is a real pain, so I gave up on that one. I opted for the have them do it for me method, which takes a lot longer but doesn't give me a big headache. The records list the

You can have them make an uncertified copy of the record for about 35 cents. They told me it would take about a week to get to me in the mail.

Worthless Summary

It was a worthwhile trip. I was able to learn what the records look like firsthand as well as gain greater insight into the beaurocratic ways which govern information.

Back to Liz's Ohio Adoption Information page.

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