David B. Rankin

Attorney at Law

__________________________________________________________________________

350 Broadway, Suite 700

New York, NY 10013

David@DBRankinLaw.com

Phone: 212-226-4507

Fax: 212-658-9480

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

HART ISLAND BURIAL RECORDS 1985-2007

POTTERS FIELD LIST OF DEAD AVAILABLE

AS OF FRIDAY MARCH 14, 2008

INFORMATION CONTACT:

Melinda Hunt

Phone1: 212-260-7156

Phone2: 646-345-6244

Email: hartisland@aol.com

The York City Department of Correction (DOC) has made copies of nearly 50,000 records of people buried in Potter’s Field on Hart Island. This is the first time records of these intact mass graves have been seen in public. Ms. Hunt hopes to build an on-line database using these records. These records were released in response to a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request on behalf of our client, Melinda Hunt, Director of the Hart Island Project (www.hartisland.org).

Ms. Hunt had previously made individual requests for the records of three people in her film HART ISLAND: AN AMERICAN CEMETERY, showing Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at Anthology Film Archive. The earlier request yielded nothing for fifteen months, and then, after the film was complete, only documents pertaining to the transfer and disinterment of bodies on Hart Island. This larger request, 1985-2007, drew a more timely and productive response from the City.

These records contain dates of death, dates of burial, burial permit numbers, burial permit dates and names of those identified at the time of death. This information will help families more easily find their lost loved ones.

The Hart Island Project has fiscal sponsorship with the New York Foundation for the Arts http://www.nyfa.org/nyfa_artists_detail.asp?pid=4256

Link to film: http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1344621530

HART ISLAND: AN AMERICAN CEMETERY will screen at Anthology Film Archives on March 19, 2008 at 6:00 PM in Manhattan, 2nd Ave. and 2nd St.