Massachusetts Vital Records From 1916 - 2009

"Massachusetts law requires town and city clerks to record all vital events occurring in that town or city."

This system has been in place for the last 300 odd years. Beginning in 1841, the state government required copies of each vital record be forwarded to a central state office. What this means is basically, two sets of records exist for almost every birth, marriage and death since 1841.

The location of state copies of vital records are at:

Registry of Vital Records & Statistics
Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH)
150 Mt. Vernon Street
1st Floor
Dorchester, MA 02125-3105

TEL: (617) 740-2600

The location of town or city copies of vital records are at:

Town or City Hall (this link takes you to a list of cities, with phone and addresses)

Massachusetts Vital Record Research Basics

The basic requirement for a successful search at the DPH is that you must have a first and last name. The more common the surname, i.e. John Smith, the more identifying information needed to locate the correct John Smith. Researchers should have as much identifying information as possible. A middle name or initial, the city, town or at least the county in which the event occurred are all highly recommended. Lastly, an approximate year, or at least a range of years, i.e. 1916 - 1920 in which the event occurred is helpful, but not mandatory.

The DPH has copies of all original records sent to them by individual towns and cities since 1916. Most original state vital certificates are located in liber book volumes at the DPH. Indexes, by year and surname, in increments of five year periods, are located in bound volumes. Many early vital records however, are only on microfilm. This is especially true for the city of Boston up until the middle 1920's.

A computer index is available for births from 1987 to the present; marriages from 1983 to the present; divorces, from 1983; and deaths from 1977 to the present. Caution! If not located in the computer index, one should consult the bound volumes and or vice versa.

The computer database is not always complete and errors do exist. Always double check the books if the record is not in the database!

Certified copies - ONLY - are available for purchase. There is no photocopying allowed at the DPH. Records can also be hand transcribed by researchers.

In addition to the cost of any certified records, there is an hourly research fee.

If you'd like mass-doc.com to process a request, please go to our vital records order form, for either a birth, marriage or death certificate.

Once we receive payment and depending on the complexity of the search, we generally ship records within 10 - 14 business days or less.

Related Vital Record Links
General Laws of Massachusetts, Chapter 46: Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths.
General Laws of Massachusetts, Chapter 210: Adoption of Children and Change of Name.
Vital record information for all other states.

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