How to Find Old Birth Announcements

Old birth announcements can be found quite easily nowadays. People who want to seek out birth announcements may do so for genetic health reasons or just by curiosity to see who their families were in earlier times.  There are a few different ways to search for old birth announcements as long as you have some information such as a first and last name, city of birth and a birth date.

• Search online if the birth announcement was made only a few years ago. Genealogy websites and online newspaper archives may be the best place to look for these. There are some websites that may be free to use for searching and some may have a pay per subscription to use the service.


• Look to see if the National Archives of the Library of Congress may have old birth announcements.


• Go to a local library and look into the microfilms archives if you are not able to find a birth announcement online. You can look through the date range on different films to find what you are looking for. If you are unsure of how to use microfilm, the librarian will assist you.


• Look for birth announcements in printed newspapers by searching for the child’s last name and the parents’ names as well. To find the birth announcement quickly, look for the index on the front page of the newspaper to guide you to the appropriate section. Some birth announcements may be sorted by the hospital name, so check for that too.


• Check the birth announcement at City Hall. If a birth was a home birth, then the City Hall may have a better record of it instead of in the newspaper or online.


• Ask a family member if they may have a copy of the birth announcement or know someone who may have it.