The New York Attorney General site, Project Sunlight, makes many New York State public records accessible in one search. Conduct a name search simultaneously through corporation, charities, lobbyist, financial contributions and state contracts databases.
U.S. Passport Applications 1795-1925 have been collected together into one database that can be searched by name or date and other criteria. Ancestry.com has assembled this from U.S. government sources The images of original applications may include photographs, physical descriptions, country of origin, place of residence, travel companions, marriage status and affidavits of relatives.
Search the FamilySearch.org index of international birth, death and marriage records collected by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ProGenealogists collect links to international vital records that are searchable in online databases.
The Free Public Records Directory lists links to online records in every state and county.
There is also a newly-launched companion site called CourtReference.com that offers information about the court structure in each state, as well as the types of cases generally handled by each court. This site is designed to assist people with effective searches for records by quickly providing an overview of where a particular court record may be.
Tamara, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Becca’s site (and the new CourtReference one) is a failry comprehensive database of what’s available.
But for the average (non-professional) researcher, who simply searches for “online background check” in Google - they’re not going to know that they can search court records, the sex offender registry, and so on and so forth.
Instead, they’ll likely end up having to pay for the priveledge to one of the thousands of “search sites” out there.
That’s where SnoopStation.com comes in. It’s a background check wizard (and it’s free) that shows people what and where to search based on the parameters they choose.
I’m being biased and it IS my site - but it’s very comprehensive and helpful for visitors who don’t know what’s actually available online.
Take care,
-Ian