How do I...

Find Obituaries?

For obituaries in newspaper sources:

• ProQuest National Newspapers (coverage is typically the most recent 10 years)
  Hint: use the drop-down menu for document type. Click on it and choose "Obituary", then enter your search term.
  
  • Full-text articles from 29 major market U.S. newspapers, including The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and others
  • Current daily news and archived articles primarily from late 1980s to date
• New York Times Historical (available from 1851; most recent three years not available) (Digital Archive)
  Digitized page image of every backfile issue of The New York Times from 1851 (most recent three years not available)
  Hint: use the drop-down menu for document type. Click on it and choose "Obituary", then enter your search term.
  • New York Times Biographical Service
    Includes reprints of biographical articles of well-known people as well as obituaries. May help users who don't want to use microfilm or New York Times Historical Digital Archive database.
  • New York Times Obituaries Index
    Selected obituaries and death notices (only, not biographical articles) from the New York Times in two volumes. Referred to as "limited" by some sources because of its "selected" content.
  • Personal Name Index to 'The New York Times Index' (example)
    The Personal Name Index... includes a more comprehensive list of "death notices" which appeared in the New York Times (example of NYT "death notice")
    After 1978 check the heading "Deaths" (which is then subdivided by individual names) in the annual accumulations of The New York Times Index (if print indexes are preferred) or the New York Times Historical (Digital Archive).

• Times (London) Digital Archive [1785-1985]
  Hint: Use "Advanced Search" and click on "obituaries" (in the "Limit the current Search" section, under "People"). However, be aware that some notices of death are considered "news stories" and not obituaries (see, for example, the notice of Charles Dickens' death).
• Palmer's Index, Times of London, 1790-1905
  Use the person's name and 'deaths' as search terms. Index only. Need to use the microfilm to find the actual obituary.
  • Obituaries from the Times (Times of London)
    Includes a name index to all obituaries and tributes appearing in The Times for the years specified.
• America's Newspapers (NewsBank) [1990s to the present]
  Use the person's name and "obituaries" or "deaths" as search terms.
  Note: Daily entries for Centre Daily Times obits are sometimes delayed by 2 months or more in this database. Recent obituaries can be found in the CDT's online obituaries page.
• LexisNexis Academic (Accesses major U.S. and World Publications)
  "Provides access to a wide range of news, business, legal, and reference information. Covers many news sources for 20 years. Most resources can be searched in full text."
  Hint: Under 'Enter Search Terms' use 'the person's name' and 'obituaries' or 'deaths'

Additional Sources to locate obituaries and death notices of historical figures in newspapers and periodicals, see the following:

• America's Historical Newspapers, 1690-1922 [Digital Archive]
  More than 1,000 U.S. historical newspapers published between 1690 and 1922, including titles from all 50 states.
  Hint: Choose "Death Notices" under the "Article Type" tab to limit the results.
  
• American Periodicals Series (1740-1900) [Digital Archive]
  "Over 1,100 periodicals ... including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines, and many other historically-significant periodicals."
  Hint: Click "More Search Options", then choose "Obituary" as your "Document type".
  
• The Nation Digital Archive (1865-date)
  Choose "Obituary" as your "Document Type". See obituary of Samir Kassir, a Lebanese journalist assassinated on June 2, 2005 for an example.
  
• Periodicals Archive online
  "[A]n archive of hundreds of digitised journals published in the arts, humanities and social sciences. It provides researchers with access to more than 200 years of scholarship."
  Hint: Add the word "obituary" to your Keyword search to limit to obituaries.

Web sources for obituaries:

• obitpage.com
  Web site of the International Association of Obituarists, obitpage.com has feature articles about obituaries, news, books, events, and links to major US and British newspaper obit pages.
• Obituaries Research Guide
  provides links to other obituary sources on the web. From deathindexes.com, "online searchable death indexes & records".
• Obituary Links Page
  "State-by-state directory of obituaries & obituary resources", has statewide and county links to obituary and genealogy web sources and city newspapers across each state.

Pennsylvania Obituary Sources:

• Deaths in central Pennsylvania : an index to the obituaries appearing in the Democratic Watchman, Bellefonte, Pa.
• Obituaries of Mifflin County, 1822-1880
• Philadelphia marriages & obituaries (1857-1860), Philadelphia Saturday Bulletin
• Quaker necrology

Additional biographical databases are available via the Libraries' E-Resource List (A-Z).

Page originally written by Lisa Morgan under the direction of Debora Cheney, Foster Communications Librarian and Head, News & Microforms Library