Obituaries

Contact

News & Microforms Library
21 W Pattee (ground floor of Pattee Library, West Entrance, near MacKinnon's Cafe)
814-863-0377

Eric Novotny, Acting Head George and Sherry Middlemas Arts and Humanities Library and Acting Head News and Microforms Library
ecn1@psu.edu
814-865-1014

or Your Campus Librarian

Related Guides

News & Newspaper Sources

Genealogy and Family History

Digging Up The Dead: Facts About Obituaries

Resources

Did You Know? (Watch NML's videos and learn more)

NewsCAT: Find Penn State access to newspapers (online, paper, microformats by geography, time period or language)

Databases

Access World News (NewsBank) [Text Content Only] (1990’s 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. Does not include all obituaries. Recent obituaries can be found in the CDT's online obituaries page.
LexisNexis Academic- News Sources [Text Content Only] (1990’s – present)
- In Article Type, check "Deaths & Obituaries"

New York Times Historical [Full Page Reproduction] (available from 1851; most recent four years not available)
- Select "Obituaries", then enter your search term

Chicago Tribune Historical (1849-1986) [Full Page Reproduction]
- Select "Obituaries", then enter your search term

America's Historical Newspapers (1690-1922) Full Page Reproduction]
- Choose "Article Types" tab, then "Death Notices" to limit the results

American Periodicals Series (1740-1900) [Full Page Reproduction]
- Select "Advanced Search", then choose "Obituary" as "Document type"

Times of London Digital Archive (Gale) [Full Page Reproduction] [1785-1985]
- 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.

Times of London, (Palmer Index) 1790-1905
- Use the person's name and 'deaths' as search terms. Index only. Need to use the microfilm to find the actual obituary.

Periodicals Archive online [Full Page Reproduction] (Dates in Periodicals Archive Online run from 1665 to 2000)
- Add the word "obituary" to your Keyword search to limit to obituaries

Guides & Indexes

Biographical Service
- Reprints of biographical articles of well-known people as well as obituaries
- Helps users who don't want to use microfilm or New York Times Historical Digital Archive database

New York Times Obituaries Index (1986-2001)
- 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'
- Includes a more comprehensive list of "death notices" which appeared in the New York Times
- 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)

Obituaries from the Times (Times of London)
- Includes a name index to all obituaries and tributes appearing in The Times for the years specified

Websites

Obituary Links Page
- Statewide and county links to obituary and genealogy web sources and city newspapers
Newspaper Obituaries on the Net
- Directory of obituary databases and archives on the internet