For recent records, please call our customer service representatives at 614-466-2531 to see if we have registered the record yet. It can take anywhere from 1 to 3 months before the birth or death record is filed through the local health department and then registered by our office and available for issuance.

To find out more about federal mandates for the collection of vital statistics, visit the Center for Disease Control & Prevention at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/births.htm

ARCHIVED RECORDS

Pursuant to Ohio Administrative Code, Section 3701-5-11, death records older than fifty years and birth records older than one hundred and twenty-five years may be removed from the Ohio Department of Health, Office of Vital Statistics (ODH/VS), and sent to the Ohio Historical Society for archival.

ODH/VS will not certify copies of records that have been removed from the vital records vault and sent to the archives at the Ohio Historical Society. Plain paper copies may be purchased from the Ohio Historical Society. Customers may obtain certified copies by contacting the local health district in which the vital event took place (local health districts are not subject to the same retention schedule as ODH/VS). For more information about archived records, including how to request a copy, please contact:

The Ohio Historical Society
Phone: 1(800)686-6124 - Website: www.ohiohistory.org

The Ohio Historical Society houses Ohio death records from December 20, 1908 through December 31, 1953. A limited internet index of death certificates is available at www.ohiohistory.org/dindex/  Birth and death records from 1867 through December 19, 1908, were filed through the county probate courts. There is no statewide index to birth and death records from 1867 through December 19, 1908. The Ohio Historical Society maintains a list of county probate court vital records held in their archives; if the Ohio Historical Society does not hold a county’s vital records, please contact the county’s probate court directly.

Last reviewed: 11/18/11