Sources

Restview uses the record-creating agency or present custodian as the primary source whenever possible. For state death certificates, that means a state health department, vital records office, or the CDC/NCHS directory. For federal records and benefits, it means the responsible federal agency.

Source hierarchy

1. Current state and federal government instructions, statutes, forms, and official directories.
2. Government archives, courts, public libraries, and institutions that hold the original record series.
3. Nonprofit or commercial databases for collection discovery, never as automatic proof of completeness.
4. Contributor platforms only as leads requiring independent corroboration.

The principal starting points are the CDC state office directory, National Archives, Library of Congress newspapers, SSA death data guidance, VA cemetery resources, and state courts.

What a source date means

A source review date records when Restview last compared the entry with the cited source. It is not a guarantee that a fee, processing estimate, vendor route, statute, or interface will remain unchanged. The issuing office controls the current procedure. Readers should open that source before paying or sending identification.

How to audit a citation

Open the cited page and verify that its jurisdiction and record type match the Restview statement. A state vital records office does not control a newspaper archive, and a federal cemetery locator does not establish access to a state certificate. Check whether the page describes current records, archival transfers, an index, or an ordering vendor. If the official page has moved, search within the same agency domain before relying on a mirror or commercial summary.

Preserve the page title, agency, URL, and access date in your research log. When a fee or public-access period affects a decision, save the applicable form or policy for your private file and confirm it again at submission. A complete citation should let another researcher identify the same collection without relying on a screenshot or search-engine snippet. Note whether the source is current guidance or an archived policy, because both can remain online. Report unsupported wording through contact.

Source quality also depends on scope: confirm the place, years, record series, and access category before applying any statement to a request.