Public Records

• Finding Aids for State and Local Government Web Sites
• Directories of Public Records
• Guides to Researching Public Records
• Corporate Filings
• Political Records
• Property Records
• Criminal and Court Records
• Professional Licenses and Certificates
• Vital Records

A public record is information that has been made or received by a public agency during the course of its daily transactions and which the agency is required to keep. Public records may created by federal and local government agencies or by individuals. Most essential public records are maintained by the government, and many are available to the public for free or for a nominal fee. Availability is determined by federal, state, and local regulations.

Public records contain a wealth of information about the people around us. Links on this site are primarily to government databases, some made available by information providers for a fee. Annotations indicate when fees are charged for searching.

Finding Aids for State and Local Government Web Sites

State and Local Government on the Net (HelloMetro Group)

A directory of state and local government web sites arranged by state.

Directories of Public Records

Public Records Directory (SearchSystems.net)

Directory of public record web sites organized by state and country. Both free and fee-based sites are listed.

Texas County Records Available on Microfilm (Texas State Library and Archives Commission)

A guide to microfilm holdings of county records at the Texas State Library. The guide is arranged by county.

Guides to Researching Public Records

How public are public records? by Carole Levitt (Internet for Lawyers)

A descriptive guide to public records research, including information about searching for medical licenses, lawyer licensing, criminal records, county records, real property records, and military records.

Open Government Guide (Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press)

Compendium of information on every state’s open records and open meetings laws. Each state’s section is arranged according to a standard outline, making it easy to compare laws in various states.

Federal and State FOI Resources and Guides(Freedom of Information Center)

A collection of federal and state resources about Freedom of Information laws, including guides to filing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

Corporate Filings

SEC Filings & Forms (EDGAR)

All companies, foreign and domestic, are required to file registration statements, 10-K annual reports, and other forms with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Anyone can access and download this information for free by using the EDGAR database.

Hoover's Online (UNT Electronic Resources)

This database, available to members of the UNT community, provides an  excellent starting point for company research. It provides contact information, historical information, press releases, and detailed financial records.

Find a Reliability Report (Better Business Bureau) 

Before you do business, check the company out with the Better Business Bureau in your area. The information will give you an idea of the company's track record with previous customers.

National Charity Reports Index (BBB Wise Giving Alliance) 

Are you considereing making a donation to charity? Obtain Better Business Bureau reports on charities and other organizations that solicit nationally. 

SOSDirect (Texas Secretary of State) 

Provides a variety of information on business organizations that file records with the Texas Secretary of State. Requires setting up an account and paying a fee of $1.00 for each record downloaded. 

FBI Files (Federal Bureau of Investigation)

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Website (FBI)

One-stop shopping to request any information that may be found in the FBI’s Central Records System. Find information about an organization, business, investigation, historical event, or incident; about a third party; about a deceased person; or even about yourself.

FOIA Reading Room (FBI)

Access hundreds of historical FBI records on famous people, scanned from paper into digital copies.

FBI Identification Records Request (FBI - Criminal Justice Information Services Division)

An FBI Identification Record, often referred to as a Criminal History Record or Rap Sheet, is a listing of certain information taken from fingerprint submissions retained by the FBI in connection with arrests and, in some instances, federal employment, naturalization, or military service. This Web site includes laws and policies related to compiling and requesting FBI Identification Records, as well as instructions and forms for requesting records.

Political Records

Donor Lookup: Find Individual and Soft Money Contributors (Center for Responsive Politics)

Search to determine whether a person has donated to any federal election campaign. You may search by name of contributor, by ZIP Code of donor, by occupation/employer of donor, or by name of candidate.

Personal Financial Disclosure Reports (Center for Responsive Politics)

By May 15 of each year, Congress members and top officials in the executive branch must file forms covering the preceding calendar year that list their assets and liabilities, their income (excluding their government salaries, oddly), asset transactions, gifts they received, and more. They need not list property unless it produces income (so their primary residence is generally not listed), but they must include the source of their spouse’s income.

PoliticalMoneyLine (Congressional Quarterly)

Search for information about money donated to federal candidate campaigns.

Privately Funded Congressional Travel Database (Center for Responsive Politics)

Although House and Senate ethics rules limit the number of congressional trip days a single private source can pay for, there is no limit to the number of privately-sponsored trips Congress members can take during their term. This database provides rankings and other information on trips taken by Congress members and their staffs funded by private sponsors.

Revolving Door (Center for Responsive Politics)

This database tracks anyone whose résumé includes positions of influence in both the private and public sectors. Former federal employees often are put into jobs as lobbyists, consultants and strategists, while many friends and business partners of politicians end up in influential government careers. Use this site to discover which public relations firms have signed up former White House employees, which lobbyists have brought their interests with them to the powerful appropriations committees, which interests are employing former members of Congress to lobby on their behalf, and much more.

Property Records

TaxNetUSA

This private company offers free searching for many Texas counties, including Dallas, Denton, Collin, and Tarrant. Free searches include search by property owner’s name, by street address, and by tax roll account number. For more sophisticated search services, the company provides a fee-based service.

Denton Central Appraisal District

An indexed search allows searching by the owner’s last name, address, property id, or account number. Advanced Search allows searching by several more fields, such as property type or block number.

Real Estate Tax Appraisal Districts (REIClub)

A directory of local tax appraisal districts all over the United States. Browse by state and area.

Texas General Land Office, Archives and Records Division (GLO)

Land grant records and maps dating to the 18th century relating to the passage of Texas public lands to private ownership. Still important to Texans because of their legal value, the materials are also now highly regarded by genealogists, historians, archeologists, and surveyors. Maps can be searched and ordered online.

Texas Unclaimed Property (Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts)

Texas law requires financial institutions, businesses, and government entities to report to the state any personal property they are holding that is considered abandoned or unclaimed. Property is turned over to the Comptroller’s office annually when the owner’s whereabouts are unknown and the property has been inactive on the books of the reporting company after the appropriate abandonment period has run. You can Search records of unclaimed property by personal or business name and city. Contents of unclaimed safe deposit boxes are periodically auctioned on E-Bay.

The Official Federal Land Records Site (Bureau of Land Management)

Documents and title information related to the initial transfer of federal land to individuals. Includes records back to 1820, although geographic and date coverage varies.

Criminal and Court Records

These include civil and criminal court records, sex offender registries, and records of arrests and convictions.

Virtual Chase (Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll)

There is no national database for checking criminal backgrounds, but some states do provide access to their criminal conviction databases. This site provides a list of state criminal record web sites, including information about coverage and costs of searching.

Texas Convictions and Sex Offender Registration Databases

The Texas Department of Public Safety provides free access to the Texas Sex Offender Database. The Convictions Database searches require you to register for an account, and charge a fee of $3.15 for each search, and an additional 57-cent transaction fee each time you purchase credits for searches.

Denton County Judicial Records Search

Criminal Records, Civil Records, Sheriff Bond Records, Sheriff Jail Records, Denton County Ten Most Wanted, Texas Ten Most Wanted, and City of Denton Sex Offenders List are available free on the Web.

Professional Licenses and Certificates

These include records about doctors, lawyers, and others who work in a field that requires some sort of professional license or certification.

Martindale-Hubbell Directory

Search a national index organized by specialty and containing biographical information on thousands of lawyers. The data are provided by each lawyer and does not contain information about disciplinary actions. To find information about disciplinary actions, contact state bar associations.

Texas Board of Medical Examiners

This link allows searching for information about health professionals, including licensure verification.

Vital Records

Vital records include birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses, divorce decrees, naturalization records, and adoption records.

Birth and Death Indexes (Texas Department of Health)

Texas Birth Indexes from 1926–1995 and Death Indexes from 1964–1998 are available on the Internet. The user must download a helper application and the files to view them.

Social Security Death Index

To locate information about persons that are deceased, search the Social Security Administration's national death index database made available by Ancestry.com. Given are birth date, death date, ZIP Code where the person lived, ZIP Code where death benefits were sent, and Social Security Number.

Where to Write for Vital Records (National Center for Health Statistics)

A list of contacts and information about obtaining birth and death records for each state.