FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Civil Registration for Underserved Countries

Civil Registration Project for Underserved Countries
Project Leader: Amber Larsen Purpose: The purpose of this project is to standardize the format and content of the Civil Registration pages. These pages are often very helpful for researching in underserved countries, as many of their records are not online/not available. Knowing about civil registration practices in their country can be important in tracing their ancestors. Task List: Task List Example pages: Zambia Civil Registration, Seychelles Civil Registration, Benin Civil Registration
 * NOTE: These pages will be reviewed by a subject matter expert, so just do this project to the best of your abilities and they will add any additional information.

Step 1: Format/Reformat Civil Registration Records Page
1. Navigate to the Civil Registration page for the country you signed up for in the Task List above. 2. Copy the following code, and paste it into the Civil Registration page below the breadcrumb and sidebar code. ==How to Find the Records== ===Offices to Contact=== ==Historical Background== ==Coverage and Compliance== ==Information Recorded in the Records== ==References==

3. Occasionally, a country's Civil Registration page may already have content on the page before you paste in the code above. In that case, analyze the pre-existing content and sort it to where it best fits under a respective heading from the code above, deleting any old headings that don't fit the new template. (This step can sometimes be confusing... contact Amber if you have any questions)
 * How to Find the Records: this heading should include content such as online record collections, record availability (such as date restrictions), any special instructions about how to navigate a record website to locate the records, etc. - in essence, anything the user may need to know in order to locate the records.
 * Offices to Contact: if you know the office(s) one needs to contact in order to access original records, add that information under this subheading (see step 9 for the format to use)
 * Historical Background: this heading should include any historic, geographic, or local information that affected civil registration/vital record keeping, such as colonization by another country, other military involvement, key dates in record keeping, any known record gaps, etc.
 * Coverage and Compliance: include information such as the records start date, registration frequency, locations covered in the record keeping, populations covered, dates different areas complied with civil registration requirements, etc.
 * Information Recorded in the Records: include what pieces of information are often recorded in the records, such as relationships, vital dates, places of residence, etc.

International Vital Records Handbook
4. Go to the International Vital Records Handbook on Google Books.

5. On the left-hand side of the screen, locate the Search box (see the red circle in the picture below)

6. Search for the name of your country in that search box.

7. In the list of search results, look for the result that appears to be the heading for the section on that country. This is where much of the Civil Registration Office information will come from.
 * NOTE: Not all pages on Google Books are available to see online for free. If there is no preview for the page you need, mention it in the Notes section of the Task List, and skip the rest of International Vital Records Handbook section of this project) 



8. Use the information found from the International Vital Records Handbook and put it under the Civil Registration template heading "Offices to Contact"

9. Format the addresses for Civil Registration institutions as the following: Name of Institution/Office Address Address Address Telephone: INSERT PHONE NUMBER HERE Email: INSERT EMAIL ADDRESS HERE Website: URL (Optional) description of institution and their service/accessibility. For example, the Civil Registration Office information could appear like this: Chief Civil Status Officer Chief Civil Status Officer Division of Immigration and Civil Status P.O. Box 430 Victoria, Mahe Seychelles Telephone: +248 4 293 600 Email: info@immigration.gov.sc Website: ics.gov.sc

10. After you have extracted all relevant information from the International Vital Records Handbook, make sure to add code for a reference, so we cite where we got the information from. Copy and Paste the following code at the end of the information you insert from the Handbook.

FamilySearch Historical Records
11. Go to FamilySearch Historical Records.

12. Underneath "Research by Location" click on the continent your country is in, and then choose the country you are working on.
 * World Survey Church Records 1.png

Look at all the online collections to see if there are any Civil Registration collections.
 * World Survey Church Records 2.png

13. If there are Civil Registration collections available, add the following code underneath the "How to Find the Records" heading. ===FamilySearch Collections=== 14. Add the collection information under the new heading. The template for adding the collection: *YEAR-YEAR: [URL Collection name] at [URL General website name] – index and images
 * For example:
 * 1787-1957: Cape Verde, Catholic Church Records, 1787-1957 at FamilySearch – index and images

FamilySearch Catalog
15. Next, go to the FamilySearch Catalog, and search for your country in the "Place" search box.

16. If "Civil Registration" is in the list of results, click on it to see what collections/films, etc. are available for that country.
 * NOTE: If your country does not have any results labeled "Civil Registration", skip to step __________.

17. For Civil Registration, we are ideally looking for Catalog results with an "official" author, such as a civil registration office, a locality, or another government institution. If a Catalog result has an author that appears to be the work of an singular person or another group of individuals that aren't an official, record-keeping institution, do not include that particular Catalog result in the Civil Registration page for your country.
 * NOTE: If you have any questions about whether or not a Catalog result should be included, please contact Amber.

18. EDIT Occasionally, depending on the country of research, it might be necessary to add sub-headings under the "How to Find the Records" heading, such as: Online Records, Availability, Locating the Records, Search Strategies, etc. If you have questions about whether any other headings would be necessary for a country you are working on, feel free to contact Amber.
 * Example: Benin's civil registration page includes a heading called "FamilySearch Collections", providing links to collections on FamilySearch pertinent to the country.

19. If you have found a good Civil Registration result in the Catalog, add the following heading underneath the "How to Find the Records" heading: ====FamilySearch Catalog====

20. Use the following example to format the link to the Catalog results underneath the new "FamilySearch Catalog" heading. *YEAR-YEAR: [URL Collection name] in the FamilySearch Catalog – PHYSICAL DESCRIPION (e.g. microfilm, images, book, etc.)
 * For example:
 * 1850-1880: Mortality schedules of the United States census, 1850 - 1880 (New York State) in the FamilySearch Catalog – microfilm, images


 * NOTE: As you open the Catalog entry, lower on the page, you will likely see an icon of a camera, or an icon of a microfilm. That indicates whether or not the Catalog item has been digitized, or is still only available on microfilm. If there is no icon, read around the rest of the page to figure out in what format the item is in.

IF YOU DON'T FIND ANYTHING FROM ANY OF THESE STEPS, MAKE A STOCK PHRASE THEY CAN COPY AND PASTE INTO THE SECTION.

Step 3: Historical Background
21. Information for the Historical Background heading should primarily include record-keeping dates and places, but can also include any historic, geographic, or local aspects that effected the civil registration/vital record keeping, such as colonization by other countries, wars, etc. 

22. Occasionally in the previous International Vital Records Handbook step, you may find information that can be placed under the "Historical Background" section (see Benin example).
 * See also the country's History page in the FS Wiki for any potentially relevant information.
 * You may need to do some research on the internet, such as the country's Wikipedia page, to get some of this information.

23. For an example of what a Historical Background section could look like, see the Zambia example.

Step 4: Coverage and Compliance/Information Recorded in the Records
24. For both the heading "Coverage and Compliance" and the heading "Information Recorded in the Records", use whatever information already existed on the page when you arrived (if there is any), and/or any information you find along the way in the previous steps that has to do with either of the two headings.
 * Coverage and Compliance: should contain information such as: records start date, registration frequency, locations covered, populations covered, compliance dates, etc.
 * Information Recorded in the Records: should include information such as birth, marriage, divorce, death, etc. - make sure to include what information can be found, such as relationships, dates, locations, etc.

25. If you are unable to find information for either of the two headings, keep the heading code on the page, but just leave the content under the heading blank. Make a note in the Task List if there are headings that are blank. We will have to do some more in-depth digging in the future to populate those headings, and we just want to make sure we get that information in the future if it can't be gathered this time around.