Instructions for Death Records

What are Death Records and How Do You Recognize Them?

Death records are historical or administrative records that document the death of a person. They can vary in format depending on the country, time period, and institution that issued them.

Death records typically serve as a record of:

• Name of the person who died
• Name of mother and/or father
• Name of spouse and/or next of kin
• Date of death
• Date of birth

Death records often have a standardized format and may include:

• A ledger or register book with multiple entries per page
• Typed or handwritten entries
• Headers like:
• “Surname or Family Name”
• “First Name”
• “Date of Death or Time of Death”
• “Date of Birth”
• “Age”
• “Place of Death”
• “Cause of Death”
  

Keywords

Here are 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 Death records.

Natural Group

Death records may be part of a larger archival collection. Most institutions follow a hierarchical archival system, so when digitizing death records, it’s important to understand how the records are currently stored.

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

• Chronological order (e.g., 1914–1946)
• Alphabetical by surname or family name.
• Location (municipality or other geographic division)

Descriptive Metadata

The record type is a distinctive class of records, as defined by their use or function, used to document events. The record type should match the event(s) recorded on the page.

For covers (front and back) and any blank pages following the front cover or preceding the back cover, including the title page and the opening and closing statements, use the record type Administrative Image.

1. Date: Enter the 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 death records are located.
3. Creator: Using the language of the records, enter the government office which created the death records (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 volume numbers that constitute the natural group:

   • Death Records
     
     • 1888
     • A–C
     • Arnold-Clark
5. Title: Enter the respective title using the language of the records.
6. Custodian Reference ID: Enter the ID in the format relevant to the archive.