The Online Archives of Bas-Rhin

By Brian J. Smith - March, 2018 - Revised December, 2025

Return to The Communities of Alsace A-Z: Tips and Resources for Genealogists.

The Département du Bas-Rhin, which covers the northern half of Alsace, has made many records from its archives available on-line.
Their home page, "Archives numérisées" ("Digitized archives") is at https://archives67.alsace.eu/n/archives-numerisees/n:124, and can also be reached at http://archives.bas-rhin.fr.
The site is in French.
These instructions are for the benefit of English-speaking users with little or no ability to navigate French instructions.

The on-line records of greatest interest to family historians are:

• Parish and Civil Registration Records ("Registres paroissiaux et d'état civil")
  (https://archives67.alsace.eu/archive/resultats/etatcivil/n:128?type=etatcivil)
  • Parish registers from the 16th century to 1792
  • Civil registers of birth, marriage and death from 1793 to 1912, including 10-year indexes
  • Family names’ choice registers by Jews (1808)
• Population censuses ("Recensements de population")
  (https://archives67.alsace.eu/archive/resultats/recpop/n:131?type=recpop)
  • Census for the years 1819, 1836, 1841, 1846, 1851, 1856, 1861, 1866, 1880, and 1885

Notes About Devices, Browsers, and Language Translation

• I performed the instructions below using the Google Chrome browser on a Microsoft Windows computer. If you have a different browser or device, your experience may be different.
• Although all the web pages are in French, some web browsers offer a "translate to English" feature.
  • To do this in the Chrome browser:
  • • Click the "..." button in the top right corner of the browswer windown.
    • In the menu that pops up, select "Translate..."
    • This should open a small dialog offering to translate the page to English.
• In the instructions below, I will give both the French labels and their English translations, so that you can follow along in either language.

Instructions for Using the Parish and Civil Registration Records

Here is an example of how to use these records.
Let's find the 1823 birth record of Joseph Voegele in Soufflenheim.

1. Start on the home page for the Archives of Bas-Rhin:
   • https://archives67.alsace.eu/n/archives-numerisees/n:124
   • This page has a small logo at the top, which says, "Archives d'Alsace", and the page title "Archives numérisées" ("Digitized archives")
2. Scroll down to the picture labeled "Registres paroissiaux et d'état civil" ("Parish and civil registration records")
   • Click this picture or its label.
   • This opens a page with the title "Recherche dans l'état-civil du Bas-Rhin" ("Search in the civil registry of Bas-Rhin")
   • As a shortcut, you can reach also reach this page from its URL:
     https://archives67.alsace.eu/archive/resultats/etatcivil/n:128?type=etatcivil
3. Click into the box under "Commune" ("Municipality")
   • Type the name of the town (commune) you are searching for, or select it from the drop-down list.
   • To follow along with this example, type: Soufflenheim.
   • Type the complete name, or click its name from the list below when it appears.
4. Click a type of record from the list in the "Type d'acte" ("Type of act") section
   • The complete list is:
     • registre de décès (death register)
     • registre de mariages (marriage register)
     • registre de naissances (birth register)
     • registre de publications de mariages (marriage banns register)
     • table décennale (ten-year table)
     • registre blanc (blank/white register)
       • Less routine events such as adoptions
     • registre de baptêmes (baptismal register)
     • registre de sépultures (burial register)
     • table des mariages (wedding table)
     • table des décès (death table)
     • table des naissances (birth chart)
     • registre de prises de noms des Juifs (register of Jewish names)
     • table des baptêmes (baptism table)
     • table des sépultures (table of burials)
     • registre de divorces (divorce register)
     • registre des abjurations (register of abjurations)
     • registre des fondations (foundations register)
   • The table décennales (ten-year tables) are alphabetical lists of births, marriages, and deaths compiled every ten years. Start here if you're not sure of the exact year that you need.
   • Usually the first three types of records are most useful: The registers of deaths, marriages, and births.
   • To follow along with this example, select "registre de naissances" ("birth register").
5. In the "Dates" section, type in range of dates, from a "Début" (start) date to a "Fin" (end) date.
   • These dates are optional, but if you leave them blank you may get a long list of documents to scroll through.
   • To follow along with this example, enter 1823 to 1823 as the date range.
6. Click the "Rechercher" ("Research") button
7. A list of one or more items, which I will call "volumes", should appear.
   • If no result is found to match your request, this message is presented in red at the top of the screen:
     "Les données de recherche sont sans réponse"
     "The search data is unanswered."
   • By clicking the "Linéaire" ("Linear") and "Tableau" ("Tabular") tabs a the top of the list, you can toggle between two different views of it.
   • In my example, one volume appears:
     The 1823 births ("Naissances") for Soufflenheim
8. Open a volume by clicking the red paper clip icon next to it.
   • The volume opens in a new browser tab page, separate from the search tab page.
   • The right half of the page shows thumbnails of the images contained within the volume. The left half shows the first image.
     • If the thumbnail panel does not appear, click this button near the top right of the screen to display it:
   • The 1823 Soufflenheim births volume is 52 pages grouped into 26 images (two pages per image).
   • Click any thumbnail image on the right to display that page on the left.
   • If you have been following along with my Soufflenheim example, click image number 7 (of 26) to view it. Here, the record # 22 is the birth of Joseph Voegele.
9. Navigating the image viewer: (this is not a comprehensive list of all features)
   • These four movement buttons (arrows) at the bottom of the screen move the image around:
     
     • Click and drag your mouse inside the image to do the same thing.
   • These buttons at the bottom of the screen resize or rotate the image:
     
   • These buttons at the top of the screen step through the volume image by image:
     
   • This button near the top right of the screen displays a panel describing the volume:
     
   • This button near the top right of the screen displays the panel showing the entire contents of the volume, as clickable thumbnail images:
     
   • This button near the bottom right of the screen downloads the image as a JPEG file or allows you to share the image, for example via email:
     
   • This button near the bottom right of the screen prints the image:
     
10. To close this volume and search for another, close the browser tab page containing the volume images. The search page should still be open, allowing you to pick up where you left off for your next search request.

Instructions for Using the Census Records

Here is an example of how to use the census records. Let's find the 1836 census of Surbourg.

(I've heard that the Ellenbach does not work well if you attempt to use the English translation feature. So it's best to stick with the French.)

1. Start on the home page for the Archives of Bas-Rhin:
   • https://archives67.alsace.eu/n/archives-numerisees/n:124
   • This page has a small logo at the top, which says, "Archives d'Alsace", and the page title "Archives numérisées" ("Digitized archives")
2. Scroll down to the picture labeled "Recensements de population" ("Population censuses")
   • Click this picture or its label.
   • This opens a page with the title "Recherche dans les recensements de population" ("Research in population censuses")
   • As a shortcut, you can reach also reach this page from its URL:
     https://archives67.alsace.eu/archive/resultats/recpop/n:131?type=recpop
3. Click into the box under "Commune" ("Municipality")
   • Type the name of the town (commune) you are searching for, or select it from the drop-down list.
   • To follow along with this example, type: Surbourg.
   • Type the complete name, or click its name from the list below when it appears.
4. At this point, the list of all census volumes for Surbourg should appear in the right half of the screen.
   • If the list does not appear, try this:
     Click the "Rechercher" ("Research") button.
   • The list is short. Just 12 volumes for Surbourg.
     Therefore, there is probably no need to filter it into a shorter list.
     However, if you would like to apply a filter, do this:
     • In the "Dates" section, type in range of dates, from a "Début" (start) date to a "Fin" (end) date.
       Then click the "Rechercher" ("Research") button.
5. To open the volume for a census year, click the red paper clip icon next to it.
   • The volume opens in a new browser tab page, separate from the search tab page.
   • The right half of the page shows thumbnails of the images contained within the volume. The left half shows the first image.
     • If the thumbnail panel does not appear, click this button near the top right of the screen to display it:
   • The 1836 Surbourg census volume is 96 pages grouped into 49 images (two pages per image).
6. Unfortunately there is no index to this census. To find someone you are looking for, you must scan through the entire volume page by page.
7. Navigating the image viewer:
   • The navigation controls for the census as those described above in the section, "Instructions for Using the Parish and Civil Registration Records".
8. To close this volume and search for another, close the browser tab page containing the volume images. The search page should still be open, allowing you to pick up where you left off for your next search request.

Click here for an obsolete version of this page describing the Bas-Rhin Archives website that was retired in late 2025.