For years, the question has been asked, “When is Alberta going to get historical vital statistics online?”
The time is now! The Provincial Archives of Alberta has digitized vital statistics indexes and or registers and are now available online.
You can now browse the indexes for births to 1897, marriages to 1942, and deaths to 1966. Note that these are indexes, not the actual records. But think of the time you save by looking at these indexes from the comfort of your home, instead of travelling to an archival centre to view microfilm images. From these indexes alone, genealogists are discovering the year their ancestor was born.
Genealogists can thank blogger Shannon Switzer Cherkowski for sharing the news on her blog, Shannon’s Research Services, and for writing her guide.
Surprisingly, the provincial archives did not announce the release of this index, so thank goodness for all the bloggers who jumped on this right away!
Good luck with your research!