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U.S. Vital Records

https://www.thefhguide.com/project-9-united-statesb1.html

Class Outline - United States, Goal B1 - BASIC

Speaker Notes: Click the down-arrow next to Slideshow and select Presenter View. Then click the link on the main slide. For each item in quotes below, open the similar link in The Family History Guide. Last updated: 2023-10-01 Home Page

Intro Video:

- Watch the Intro video (above “Choices”) and pause to discuss as necessary.

GOAL B1: Vital Records

Choice A:

"MH: Vital Records ..."

- Read the opening paragraph and bullet list for the value of vital records.

- In the Primary sources paragraph, discuss why vital records are primary sources, and why they still may not be 100% reliable.

- In the Why do vital records exist? paragraph, review the bullet points for why governments use vital records.

- In Birth records read and discuss the bullet points. Then scroll down to the birth record picture and in the paragraph below it discuss the key elements of the record.

- In Death records read and discuss the bullet points. Then scroll down to the death record picture and in the paragraph below it discuss the key elements of the record.

- In Marriage records read the first paragraph. (This section does not have a picture of a marriage certificate - you can see one in https://www.thefhguide.com/project-9-united-statesb4.html#a)

- In Looking beyond the record read and discuss the bullet points.

"FS Wiki: United States Vital Records"

- Scroll down to Search Strategies and read and discuss each bold heading in the topic. You can show the links for alternate birth, marriage, and death information if desired.

- Scroll down to the Why can't I find ... section and discuss the bullet points.

"AAC: Vital Records"

- Watch the video from the start to 2:45 and discuss the key topics.

"FS: United States Vital Records"

- Pause the video at 11:47 and discuss types of information that birth records may include, as shown on the screen.

- Pause at 15:49 to discuss information included in marriage records.

- Pause at 24:04 to discuss information included in death records.

"FS: United States Civil Records"

- Review the regions shown in the bold headings.

- Summarize the milestone dates for when different vital records were introduced.

Choice B:

"Ordering - vitalrecs.com"

- Open the link for the site. As an example, open the Birth Certificate link (upper left) and scroll down the page, discussing key resources about ordering vital records as you go.

"RT: Finding Substitutes for Vital Records"

- Scroll down to page 2 and show the large chart for when statewide registration began for types of vital records.

- Note that some "states" such as Alaska and Hawaii were actually territories at the time, and D.C. and Puerto Rico are not states.

- On page 3, browse through the bold headings in the chart to discuss various types of records that can serve as alternatives to vital records.