Millions of individual records of births, deaths, marriages and divorces in Virginia in the past 100 years are now available online, Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced this week.

It took two years, but more than 16 million vital records held by the Virginia Department of Health have been digitized and indexed, the governor stated Tuesday.

He made the announcement in celebrating a partnership between the state and Ancestry.com, a private company that specializes in genealogy information. The partnership made the online records available to the public.

The records available include births and deaths since 1912, marriages reported since 1936 and divorces recorded since 1918, according to state officials.

People can gain access to the records without charge through VDH’s Division of Vital Records website or through the Library of Virginia’s website, Gov. McAuliffe stated.

Scanned images of the original documents also are being made available through Ancestry.com, which offers the information to subscribers to its genealogy service.

State officials stated that every effort was made to ensure the records were kept secure and protected from misuse during the scanning process.

New records will be put online as they become available, officials said.

The project is among the first of its kind involving vital records and could become a model for other states.

“Having all Virginia vital records digitized will help preserve the rich history of Virginia’s people and make family history research more accessible,” the governor stated.

State Health Commissioner Marissa J. Levine said that the project also would help “people to explore their ancestry and possibly identify family health conditions or hereditary risk factors.”

The General Assembly approved legislation in 2012 supporting the effort.