1) Think of these as the card catalog in a library. Sure, you could wander around the library and eventually find a specific book if you knew the title and which section it might be located in (which requires you to also know the Dewey Decimal System), but it’ll take time.
2) An index will also give you info on related names and dates and is a cross reference.
3) It is also another step in verification of an existing record.
4) It’s one more thing “they” would have to alter so it’s to they’re advantage if it were to be destroyed, misplaced, or sealed.
5) “They” don’t want it to exist because while the b/c books might be closed to the public, ... drum roll, please... the index books shouldn’t be.
It’s easy to make his kindergarten record disappear because it wasn’t connected to any other student’s record. The birth index is connected with every other births for that specific time period. Even if he sealed just the the page his was listed on, that would mean all those one that page would be sealed. Nope, sorry, he can’t seal other people’s records. It’s much easier to destroy ALL the books and claim ignorance when later questioned.
Maybe it’s just me, but this sounds suspiciously like the passport break in. “They” couldn’t have just his passport played with as that would raise red flags, so they went back and claimed ALL the front runners’ records were compromised. Yeah, right, and I have a bridge for sale.
Thanks for the explanation.
Just one question (which you’ve probably already answered before; sorry). Hmm. And now I think I remember what you said. The list would be sorted by the first letter in the last name (so Obama would be listed under the O’s) but the names entered in chronological order. So there would be a chronological list of everybody born with a last name starting with O, and a chronological list of everybody born with a last name starting with each different letter of the alphabet.
Information that could be included would be the date of birth, parents’ names, and (possibly) certificate number. Do I remember that right? The index would help locate the actual certificate if it listed the certificate number? Or maybe there was a file location listed. My husband’s BC has a local file number listed on it as well as the certificate number. Maybe a local file number would be used as the “call number” to help locate the BC.
Don’t forget his student loan records which were accessed recently and I people were arrested. What did they find in those records, that’s my question.