Researching your family's history?

Here are some tips and other resources outside of the City you should think about using before you get started:

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Want to use Boston records?

You can get birth, marriage, and death certificates through the City, but there are some restrictions on documents less than 90 years old.

Give us as much information as possible, including:

Maiden names or any other names that could have been used.
The date when the birth, marriage, or death was recorded. If you don’t know the exact date, give us a rough estimate.
The age of the person you are trying to look up.
What Boston neighborhoods that person might have lived in.

All certified copies are $12 in person and $14 by mail. Record requests for events prior to 1870 required an additional $10 each research fee. Please use separate checks.

If you are looking for an old record, it might take some time, but we will use everything we can to find the information.

Still have questions? Contact:
Registry: Birth, death, and marriage

617-635-4175

send an email

1 City Hall Square
Room 213

Boston, MA 02201-2006
United States