Researchers with Maryland ancestors are fortunate that Maryland birth certificates over 100 years old are available online. The vast majority of records begin in 1875 for Baltimore City and 1898 for the counties. (Maryland death certificates through 2012 also are available online;
see here for more information.)
STEP 1: Check MyHeritage and/or Ancestry
The quickest and easiest search options for Maryland birth certificates are on the MyHeritage and Ancestry websites. MyHeritage has records for the entire state. Ancestry currently provides access only to Baltimore City births.
Access to both sites is by paid personal subscription or through their library editions. The Ancestry Library Edition may only be accessed on site at host libraries. The MyHeritage Library Edition may be accessed not only at participating libraries but also at home if you have a library card for one of those libraries.
In Maryland, only Howard County subscribes to the MyHeritage Library Edition, however, any Maryland resident can
apply for a free Howard County library card in order to use MyHeritage at home. Upon applying online you get immediate six-month access to online databases pending picking up your card. (If you don’t eventually come to a branch to pick up your card, you will lose access after six months.) MyHeritage is accessed among the "Research Tools" in the Howard County "Digital Library."
If you can't access MyHeritage or Ancestry - or can't find the record you're looking for and fear it may be incorrectly indexed on those sites - the records are available for free on the Maryland State Archives website and the Internet Archive website. The following discussion offers advice on locating death records on these sites.
STEP 2: Check the Indexes
If you locate an entry in this index that you want to check, go on to Step 3: Locate the Certificate. Otherwise, proceed to check the original indexes as discussed below.
While the original birth certificate indexes are available on the Internet Archive website (
here for the counties and
here for Baltimore City records),
the following indexes as posted on the Maryland State Archives website are easier to navigate. Note that earlier records are indexed by the name of the parents, not of the child. For any index entry of interest you locate, be sure to record the names, date, county/city, and certificate number (if any).
Maryland Counties Indexes (Baltimore City births are indexed separately from births in the Maryland counties - see indexes below.)
Baltimore City Indexes
- 1875-1941: CM1134 (For missing pages for 1887, see C2-9)
- 1942-1949: No index is available at the Maryland State Archives.
- 1950-1972: T1344
STEP 3: Locate the Certificate
Using the following Maryland State Archives website links below, find the batch of records that contains the certificate you need based on the date, county/city information, and certificate number (if any) you found in the index. You can view available birth certificates on either the Maryland State Archives website or the Internet Archive website. If you want to view the certificate on the Internet Archive website, be sure to note the "MSA Citation number" for that batch of records. (Example MSA Citation numbers include S1963-873 and CM1135-61.)
Maryland Counties Certificates
- 1898-April 1910: S1963
- May 1910-1913: S1988
- 1914-[1925]: SM35 (Links to additional records are being added as the records reach 100 years old.)
Baltimore City Certificates
- 1875-[1925]: CM1135 (Links to additional records are being added as the records reach 100 years old.)
The Maryland State Archives website page on
Birth Records provides further in-depth guidance about locating records, the history of birth records in Maryland, and FAQs.
Viewing Certificates on the Maryland State Archives Website
Batches of certificates will have a "Links" hot link that you can select to move on to viewing the certificates. There will be options for viewing the certificates as part of large PDFs or as individual certificates. If any certificates are available in person at the Maryland State Archives but are not yet available on the website, the notation will instead say "*Links" (with an asterisk).
Viewing Certificates on the Internet Archive Website
If you prefer to view the certificate on the Internet Archive website, follow one of the following links depending on the date and place of the birth.
From the resulting list of files, choose the link for the time period you are interested in.
You'll then have access to batches of PDF files identified by MSA Citation number. The links will appear in the left-hand navigation bar, as shown in the illustration. Select the correct MSA Citation number for the certificate you're seeking. (In the illustration, for example, MSA Citation number CM1135-058 - outlined in blue - has been selected.) Finally, scroll through that PDF to locate the certificate you need.
