The North Carolina State Archives offers new Correspondence Portal

I just received the following news from the North Carolina State Archives' online blog History For All the People:

Online Correspondence is here!  The State Archives of North Carolina is excited to announce a new web portal for correspondence.  Online Correspondence will allow persons residing outside of North Carolina to request a search for a record and pay the search and handling fee using the Online Correspondence portal.  Persons residing outside of North Carolina will still have the option of sending a check, a money order or credit card information through the USPS but the Online Correspondence portal will give the additional option of paying electronically.

http://correspondence.archives.ncdcr.gov

But wait – there’s more!

The Online Correspondence portal will also have a feature that will allow residents and non-residents to pay their invoice electronically too!  Researchers will receive an invoice with instructions on how to find and use the online payment option.

http://correspondence.archives.ncdcr.gov/invoice.asp

And that’s not all!

North Carolina residents will now find a new option on the North Carolina online request form.  North Carolina residents can now opt-in to receive an electronic invoice.  If the researcher selects the electronic invoice option they will receive the invoice via email instead of a paper copy sent by USPS.  This service should save time for the customer and reduce operational costs for the Archives!

http://req.archives.ncdcr.gov/

We hope these new features will help us serve you faster and more efficiently.  Try them out and give us your feedback!

I personally have not yet used the website to request materials but I am excited by this new feature to pay for our materials online. I think it will streamline the process and free up the Archives staff for other things, like, oh, say, fulfilling our requests! 

If you are out of State you can check out the new Online Correspondence Portal. This website has records broken down into seventeen categories, including the following:

• Civil War
• Deed Books
• Land Grants
• World War I
• Selective Service
• Cemetery Records
• Bible Records
• Private Collections
• Court Minutes
• Death Certificate
• Estate Records
• Maps
• Marriage Bonds
• Marriage Licenses
• Revolutionary War
• War of 1812
• Will Records

When you find the record type you want to order, you can fill in the form with your ancestor's name, county, and any other pertinent information you think will help the Archivist find the record. All search fees start at $20.00 for Out of State residents. All requests can then be added to your cart.

If you are a North Carolina State Resident, you can use the standard records request by email form posted here. The form does not specify what the charge is to North Carolina Residents. My guess is the charge is accrued for copies only. It is on my "To-Do" list to try this out sometime.

What about you? Have you ever requested materials from the North Carolina State Archives online? If so, please tell us about it in the comments below.

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The quoted portion of this post was reprinted from the following source:

Christopher Meeks, "New Services Available for Correspondence Requests," History For All the People, 6 September 2012, (http://ncarchives.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/new-services-available-for-correspondence-requests/ : accessed 6 September 2012).