1904 added to death certificates Index

Death cards from 1904 have been added to the Online Index to Death Certificates. We're working diligently to add more years. As in the past, we will notify you when more data is added.

Look for another five years of birth records to be added this summer.

Two weeks left to register!
Discover your Family History Workshop

Learn how to research family history from the experts!

Back by popular demand, the annual Discover Your Family History Workshop will be held April 22, 2006. The workshop focuses on effective family history research and preserving family treasures. Topics include:

• Developing a Research Plan, by Tom Rice
• Managing Your Digital Photos and Making Them Last, by Bonnie Wilson
• Navigating the Minnesota Birth and Death Indexes, by Duane Swanson
• Seven Habits of Highly Effective Genealogists, by Tom Rice
• Sharing Your Story on the Minnesota's Greatest Generation Web Site, by Linda Cameron
• Taking Care of Your Real Photos, by Bonnie Wilson
• Techniques for Effective Research, by Tom Rice
• Ten Under-Used Resources at the MHS, Mary Bakeman

There will also be a special behind-the-scenes tour of the museum and archival storage areas.

$40 for MHS members; $45 for non-members
Saturday, April 22, 2006 at the Minnesota History Center.
Register online.

Cemetery Records

A Family History Research Tip

Burial records, cemetery plats, indexes to burials in hospital cemeteries and municipally-owned cemeteries, obituary records, and listings of burials from Minnesota's state hospitals are helpful for family history research.  Notable hospitals in the Minnesota Historical Society's collections include Faribault State School and Hospital, Willmar State Hospital, Hastings State Hospital, Cambridge State Hospital, and St. Peter State Hospital.

This image is a segment of a cemetery plat at Faribault State Hospital, from the collections of the State Archives. The plat shows individual burial plots with the deceased person’s name and plot number.

In the records of the Minnesota Department of Health is an incomplete 1933 inventory listing the locations and names of cemeteries across the state, as well as the address of the secretary or person in charge. In the late 1930s the Historical Records Survey of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) conducted a survey that has information about many Minnesota cemeteries, including private and Indian burials and abandoned cemeteries. The survey form includes name of cemetery; county; township, village or city; location; ownership; date established; date of first burial; dedication date; condition and history of the cemetery; location of records; and source of the information. The forms, which are arranged by county, do not list persons buried in the cemeteries. More recently, Wiley R. Pope published Minnesota Cemetery Locations (1988, updated 1998). Arranged by county, the guide lists township/range/section numbers, township or village name, cemetery name, and sources used. Pope also lists known published inscriptions.

Inscriptions have been copied from gravestones in cemeteries located in many Minnesota counties. Complete lists for some counties have been published. Some inscriptions from practically all counties have been copied and published. Many inscriptions have been published in periodical articles and are not listed separately in the MHS online catalog.

Some cemeteries are starting to put their records online. Check out the "Burial Search" function for Minneapolis's Lakewood Cemetery at http://www.lakewoodcemetery.com/f_welcome.htm.