Vital Records in Washington State

The Washington State Library does not have any vital record certificates in its collection.

However, many Washington counties have given the vital records they collect to the Washington State Archives. The Archives has begun to put many of the vital records in their collection up on their Digital Archives website.

Vital records collected by Washington State are held by the Department of Health.

• 1891 - Washington Counties are required by law to keep vital records
• July 1, 1907 - The State takes over collecting birth and death records
• January 1, 1968 - The State takes over collecting divorce and marriage records

Vital Records are crucial for genealogy research, as they document the major life events of an ancestor. These records are primary sources for the events they directly record, such as a death record being a primary source for a person's death since it is created near the time of death. However, they can also serve as secondary sources for other events; for instance, a death record might provide information about a person's birth, but since it was not created at the time of the birth, and the informant may not have been present, it is considered a secondary source for that event.

This LibGuide will assist you in locating vital records for yourself or your ancestors, in Washington State.