The New York City Geographical Birth Index is unusual in that it lists births by the street address of the child’s residence. The index records all births in New York City from approximately 1880 to 1912. In older records, there are so many name variations that you might miss a record because the name was differently spelled, so this arrangement gives you another way of finding a name and date of birth.
The labor of getting the records from the government agency is provided by Reclaim The Records, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Donate to their cause and read all the essentials about the geographical birth index.
As you can see, these records are 3×5″ index cards, which were microfilmed and then digitized. They have an exact street address listed at the top of the card, or sometimes a small range of addresses all on the same street like “251-300 Clifton Pl.” The information on the cards includes the child’s date of birth, the child’s name, and the birth certificate number — after all, this is an index. But armed with this data, you can then go order a copy of the actual birth certificate from the city.
Adoption Search and Reunion locates and reunites adoptees, birth mothers, birth fathers, siblings, and all birth family members who have been separated by the adoption process or other types of family separation.