Hi Kate,
Thank you very much for your reply. I have tried ordering up things from here before and they were a bit of a nighmare ...
Kieran,
I can imagine the difficulties you must encounter trying to locate information from overseas.
One thing I failed to mention is that there are some people with subscriptions to archival newspaper databases, which are more extensive. Those charge a monthly fee for access I believe. I have a few historical newspapers via my public library and a genealogy company. In many instances it only covers certain time frames and newspapers in the states, with a few int'l newspapers. There certainly were other newspapers in NY City and the boroughs in the 1950s & 1960s. The NY Herald comes to mind. Otherwise, some major metropolitan newspapers are on microfilm, but without a particular date, the search for a wedding article would be labor-intensive, to say the least .
Sandra is correct that many vital record indices vary from state to state through a patchwork of varying laws, rules and policies regarding privacy & confidentiality issues.
A major index is the Social Security Death Index. However it is helpful to have the person's birth date (or approximate) to corroborate that you have the correct person. Armed with that information, it then is possible to try to locate an obituary for that individual in hopes to discover family details.
Kind regards,
Kate