Nevada State Library and Archives

Access to Governors' Executive Records: The Attorney General's Office has issued a letter of advice that relates to the access to the executive records of Nevada Governors in the State Archives. Because of this opinion, the Division of Archives and Records has devised these policies to help researchers get access to information.

Prior to this opinion, archives staff made all governors' records from 1861 to 1982 available, if the proper permission were granted, on the assumption that the confidentiality portion of the statute was limited to governors whose terms of office were after the 1983 enactment of the legislation.

NRS 378.290 requires that the records of a former governor be open to public inspection, except:

"If that correspondence identifies or can be readily associated with the identity of any person other than a public officer or employee acting in his official capacity, the name and facts which identify that person must be deleted before the correspondence is disclosed, unless the person so named or identified is deceased or gives his prior written permission for the disclosure."

To help facilitate research, when a research request for governor's records is received, the archives staff will review the inventory and files to determine the extent of material which may be disclosed and which may not. (Research fees will be applied after one hour of review.) Researchers may see any records from public officers and employees to the governor written in the course of business. Items that refer to individuals whose identity may not be disclosed will be removed from the file. Archives staff will inform the researcher of the amount of material that has been removed.

If the researcher wishes to see that correspondence which has confidential information about individuals, the archives staff will make copies and completely obscure any name or reference to those individuals. This may be time consuming and the researcher must pay for research time and the photocopies. (See Research and Photocopy Fees Information Sheet). We hope researchers understand our legal constraints and give archives staff enough notice to review the files.