Burial Cards

August 12, 2025

What are Burial Cards and How Do You Recognize Them?

Burial cards are historical or administrative records that document the burial of an individual. They can vary in format depending on the country, time period, and institution that issued them (e.g., churches, cemeteries, military organizations, or civil registries).

Burial cards typically serve as a record of:

  • The name of the deceased
  • Date of death and/or burial
  • Place of burial (cemetery name, plot number, section)
  • Age at death
  • Sometimes cause of death, religion, or next of kin

Burial cards often have a standardized format and may include:

  • A card-like size (index card or ledger format)
  • Typed or handwritten entries
  • Headers like:
  • “Name of Deceased”
  • “Date of Burial”
  • “Lot/Plot Number”
  • “Undertaker” or “Funeral Director”
  • “Cause of Death”
  • “Clergyman” or “Minister”
  • Institutional stamps or logos (e.g., cemetery name, church seal)

Keywords

Here is a comprehensive list of common English terms and their equivalents in the languages wherein these records are written, using terminology typically found on historical or official documents. The languages were selected based on the entities in different countries that created burial cards.

Language
Keywords
English
Burial Card, Interment Record, Grave Record, Cemetery Record, Burial Permit, Death and Burial Record, Plot Card, Grave Registration Card
French
Carte d’inhumation, Fiche de sépulture, Registre des inhumations, Fiche de décès, Carte de tombe, Registre funéraire
German
Sterbekarte, Begräbniskarte, Grabkarte, Beerdigungsnachweis, Friedhofsregister, Totenzettel
Italian
Scheda di sepoltura, Registro delle sepolture, Carta funeraria, Scheda del defunto, Registro cimiteriale
Spanish
Tarjeta de entierro, Registro de sepultura, Ficha de inhumación, Registro funerario, Tarjeta de tumba
Polish
Karta pochówku, Rejestr pochówków, Karta grobu, Ewidencja cmentarna
Russian
Карточка захоронения, Похоронная карточка, Реестр захоронений, Могильная карта
Dutch
Begrafeniskaart, Grafkaart, Begraafregister, Overlijdenskaart
Swedish
Begravningskort, Gravkort, Begravningsregister, Dödsregister
Norwegian
Begravelseskort, Gravkort, Begravelsesregister
Danish
Begravelseskort, Gravkort, Begravelsesregister
Japanese
埋葬記録カード, 墓地記録, 死亡記録
Chinese
埋葬卡片, 墓地记录, 死亡登记卡

Natural Group

Burial cards may be part of a larger cemetery register or archival collection. Most institutions follow a hierarchical archival system, so when digitizing burial cards, it’s important to understand how the records are currently stored.

At the archive, burial cards may be grouped hierarchically starting with any, but not all, of these levels:

  • Chronological order (e.g., 1914–1918)
  • Location (e.g., Arlington National Cemetery)
  • Type of burial (civilian vs. military)
  • Alphabetical order (given names, surnames, family, tribe, clan)
  • Numerical order (e.g., plot/grave nos., file nos.)

If the burial cards are stored by the creator:

  • At the cemetery, these may be organized by plots, grave numbers, or the like.
  • At the civil registry, these may be organized chronologically.
  • At the church, these may be organized by plots, grave numbers, or chronologically depending on if there was a different clerk over the church cemetery. Furthermore, certain plots may be specific to a family/tribe/clan.

Burial cards should be captured together at the lowest hierarchical level by which the records are organized by the institution currently storing them.

Descriptive Metadata

The metadata describes all the images in the natural group at the lowest hierarchical level. Check the natural group cover, then spine, then inner pages, including the title page, for the metadata:

  1. Date: Enter the burial year
    • If the lowest hierarchical level constitutes records from specific months, then include the months with the year, e.g., Jan-Feb 1911.
    • If the lowest hierarchical level constitutes records from a single specific month, then include the month with the year, e.g., May 1884.
  2. Locality: Enter the city/town/village in which the church, cemetery, or civil registry is located that created the burial cards.
  3. Creator: Using the language of the records, enter the name of the church, cemetery, military department, or civil registry that created the burial cards (the Record Custodian and Creator may be the same depending on where the records are currently stored).
  4. Volume: Enter the surname ranges and/or card/file numbers that constitute the natural group. Here are some examples:
    • Church/Civil registry
      • 1888
      • A–C
      • Arnold-Clark
    • Cemetery (church/civil): Plot D Row 5 Graves 1-6
  5. Title: Enter the respective title using the language of the records. Here are some examples:
    • NARA: WWII Burial Cards
    • CWGC: Grave Registration Reports: France, Belgium, Italy
    • ABMC: Interment Records: Normandy American Cemetery
    • Bundesarchiv: Deutsche Kriegsgräber
  6. Custodian Reference ID: Enter the ID in the format relevant to the archive. Here are some examples:
    • NARA: RG 92, Entry 293
    • Bundesarchiv: Bestand R 9361-V
    • Cemetery (church/civil): IV. A. 12