ON-LINE: Do you need a certified copy...

ON-LINE: Do you need a certified copy of your marriage certificate? Go to the library. . . . Orange County branch libraries are connected to a county database and can summon up “all the births, deaths and marriages that were ever recorded in Orange County,” says county librarian John Adams. . . . In November, libraries provided 740 copies, up 74% from a year earlier.

EARLY NIXON: Yorba Linda may have the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace, but the de facto vice presidential Nixon library can be found in Laguna Niguel. . . . Available for public inspection at the National Archives are 845 boxes of Nixon’s pre-presidential papers, including correspondence to world leaders such as Chiang Kai-Chek and American dignitaries like World War II U.S. General Omar N. Bradley. You may buy a copy of any page of Nixon’s letters for only a dime.

LONG-LOST: Ever try to locate your old high school sweetheart only to discover she’s not in the phone book? Try the little-used computerized records on the public counter at the registrar of voters, 1300 S. Grand Ave., Santa Ana. . . . Simply type in a name to find that voters sometimes include unlisted phone numbers with their addresses. Dates of birth are always listed--a great aid if your old flame has a common name. This underused computer resource is absolutely free.

GHOSTS: The Orange County Archives contain everything from handwritten 1890 voting indexes complete with voters’ physical descriptions to a collection of 46-year-old aerial photographs. “You can make out large animals and you can see cars” on the photos, says Ana Christensen, archive technician. . . . Although the archives, located in the Old County Courthouse, 211 W. Santa Ana Blvd., Santa Ana, aren’t heavily used, the requests can be intriguing. Several times a year people want to know whether any heinous crimes have been committed in their homes that may have left the houses haunted, Christensen says. To date, no ghosts have been documented.

Records for Sale

Vital public records sales from county branch libraries peaked in June this year: Nov. ‘93: 740 Source: Orange County Librarian John Adams