[or-roots] Oregon death certs

[W. David Samuelsen]

Did you know you can fit up to 3 certificates on 11x17 paper sheet
and pay only 25 cents. Just ask at desk for 11x17 if needed. I did
that last time I was there.

David Samuelsen

> Wordsmith wrote:
> 
> I live in the Rogue Valley area and have made a few trips to Salem
> this summer to get death certificates; in two trips I amassed nearly
> 300 certificates. That, plus stopping at my son's house in Corvallis
> and allowing him to cook me supper, made the trip worth it. I really
> enjoy the drive, the archives staff are very, very helpful, and if I
> get there early enough I can even find a place to park.
> 
> If you go to the archives and have a long list of death certificates
> to pull and copy, may I suggest a way to create a list for the
> archives staff that will save them--and you--time? They told me it
> really helped them a lot. I created my list using MS Excel, but any
> word processing program with a table feature will also work just fine.
> 
> I made the following column headings: Archivist, Year of Death, Month,
> Day, County, Surname, First Name, Middle/Maiden Name, and Notes. I
> type in the information and leave a few blank lines for those death
> certificates that I suddenly decide I need but don't have time to fire
> up the computer and add them to the list.
> 
> The reason is that the death certificates are filed first by year,
> then by county, then by month, with certificates in date order within
> each folder. The first column is blank so that the staff member, if
> they wish, can check off the boxes as they take them off the shelf.
> Since most of the death certificates I get are for deaths occurring in
> Jackson County, when I have them in other places I put that county in
> bold so the archivist will see it and pull the right box.
> 
> I hope this idea helps those of you who have a good many certificates
> to find and not a lot of time to do it in. In one three-hour period I
> managed to pull and copy about 130 of them.
> 
> Also, anyone who goes to Portland to visit the Oregon Historical
> Society there should know that their galleries will be closed for
> several months beginning sometime in November, I believe. For more
> information, their website is www.ohs.org.
> 
> Elizabeth in the Rogue Valley