Vital Records Indexing Project

Welcome to the first phase of the Maryland State Archives Vital Records Indexing Project. The first group of indexes encompasses all twenty-three counties for 1898-1944. Indexes for later years are scheduled for in the future. (Baltimore City is a separate entity, with indexes to be available in the future.)

The digital access consists of images derived from microfilm copies of the index cards. For specific blocks of time, such as 1898-1910, the images are grouped alphabetically. After selecting a letter, you must scroll through the pages of images; each page contains 5 images. Please note that the images cannot be searched directly by using the find or locate function.

Clicking on the image of a card will take you through the steps to order a copy of the death certificate. The fee for a plain copy is $12.00 and for a certified copy $25.00. Please note, you do not need to send a separate check for each certificate. You may send one check for all the certificates that you are ordering.

Future plans include the ability to order copies online in a safe and secure environment. In the meantime, the Archives can accept orders for copies only through regular mail.

The images are as legible as they would be on film, and suffer from the defects of the original filming. If you find an image that you cannot read or is incomplete, please let us know by selecting the Unsatisfactory Image Quality option, accessible by clicking on the image. When the project schedule is compete, the Archives will return to these problem images and correct them as best we can.

Any questions or concerns should be addressed to archives@mdsa.net. Please see the Archives' website for more information about birth and death records.