Maine expands digital access to public records
The Maine State Archives, a bureau within the Department of the Secretary of State that preserves valuable official documents, has launched a new online platform to make thousands of historical and government documents easier for the public to find and view.
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows announced the launch of Open Access Thursday. The public-facing website provides access to digitized and “born-digital” records, documents that were created electronically rather than scanned from paper.
The platform currently contains more than 100,000 imaged records, with collections spanning five centuries, according to the state. They include records from before Maine became a state, Revolutionary War-era documents, Civil War records and the 2024 Lewiston Tragedy Commission.
“From the beginning, I have been committed to improving efficiency and modernizing our systems to benefit Mainers and streamline access,” Bellows said in the announcement. “Open Access will provide improved government transparency in a user-friendly platform that will be continuously expanded as more and more collections are imaged.”
Maine’s launch follows a broader push for transparency as states preserve digital government records, including email, text messages, social media and encrypted communications, and make them available to the public.
In February, Hawaii’s State Archives announced it had digitized 64 volumes of records and made them accessible through a free public website, including documents related to genealogy, land ownership and court proceedings.
“With more than 8 miles of documents in the Archives’ care, there is a long way to go to digitize them all, but it’s a great start,” Maine State Archivist Christian Cotz said of the state’s new website.
