Tired of restrictions and paywalls around public data? So is a not-for-profit organization of genealogists, historians and researchers calling itself "Reclaim the Records." They identify important data sites and file Freedom of Information requests to get the information back into the public domain. Their pilot project was the New York City index to the 1908-1929 application, affidavit and license for marriage. Unlike the better-known NYC marriage certificates for the late 1800s through 1937 (which are already available), this other set of records consists of detailed, three-page documents dated several weeks before the marriage. The "Reclaim the Records" organization was successful, and the indexes have been digitized; 44 of 48 microfilms are now online for free use: https://archive.org/details/nycmarriageindex. You may be interested in future targets:

1. Index to all NYC marriage records (1930-2015)
2. Index to New York state deaths (outside of NYC) 1880-1956
3. NYC birth certificates, 1910-1915
4. New Jersey birth, marriage and death indices, 1901-1903 and 1901-1914
5. Missouri birth index, 1910-2015
6. Missouri death index, 1910-2015

Read more about the value of the 1908-1929 NYC indices and follow the progress of "Reclaim the Records" here: www.reclaimtherecords.org/.