Rhode Island Public Records

To begin, add a public record or view a list of counties, locations and resources for Rhode Island public records.

In Rhode Island, public records are handled by the Rhode Island State Archives which is a division of the Office of the Secretary of State. The Archives acts as custodian and trustee for these records that possess 'permanent historical value'. By law, these documents are available for research purposes to the public at their facility in Providence.

Within the State Archives, public records in Rhode Island are overseen by the Public Records Administration who provides management assistance to state agencies, the Local Government Records Program which offers the same programs to municipalities and the State Records Center that manages non permanent state government records.

The agency or custodian an individual would need to contact for public records in Rhode Island will depend on the specific needs, but requests can be sent to the State Archives for any Rhode Island public records and a representative will direct them to the appropriate department to fulfill their request.

To lookup Rhode Island public records information, contact:

As the state works very hard to be able to provide more openness and accessibility, a Rhode Island public records search is something that is not at all difficult to accomplish. The laws within the state dictate that many forms of documents must be filed with the Office of the Secretary of State so that they can be researched and obtained either as a copy, or have the data revealed.

Rhode Island County Public Records