Penn State University Libraries - Digging up the Dead : Facts about Obituaries

"An obituary is, in many cases, a first draft of history. It is a miniature biography, a culture's recognition of a well-lived life. It can inform everything written from there on out; yet it is in the hands of a stranger. An opportunity to shape that process few people can pass up."
Janny Scott, It was a Dark and Stormy Life...
[New York Times, July 8, 2001]

Who gets an obituary?

• It is said that the only time the average person appears in the newspaper is upon his/her death. However, some persons will have more than one obituary in many sources; others will be lucky to get their one time chance at history in their local newspaper.
  
  
• Obituaries were commonplace in early America for wealthy white males, with few exceptions.
  • Obituaries in American Culture (book review)

What information is included about the deceased?

An obituary is a notice of the death of a person. It may (or may NOT) contain: 

• Name
• Date and place of death
• Birth date and age
• Parent's names
• Information about spouse and children if married
• Relatives who are surviving or who preceded him or her in death
• Church and community affiliations
• Accomplishments
  

A biography is usually much more detailed and will focus on a person's:

• Personal life
• Character
• Career
• Influence on his or her contemporaries or on history

Many newspapers and periodicals publish human interest profiles of people both before and after their death. These are more like a biography than an obituary.

When will an obituary appear?

• Typically they appear within days, weeks, but, rarely, months after the person has died.

Where to look?

• Newspapers have a special section dedicated to obituaries. If a famous/notable person dies, a newspaper will feature their obituary/biography on the front page or somewhere prominent within the issue.
  • Thus the obituary is a "news" story rather than an "obituary"
  • Charles Dickens' obituary in Times (London)
    
    

• Some trade publications will print obituaries for well-known industry leaders. 
  • Broadcasting & Cable frequently runs obituaries that can be located in Communication and Mass Media Complete.
    
    

• General interest magazines, like The Nation, Time, Newsweek, and People may have feature articles (rather than obituaries) on a particular aspect of a famous person's career or accomplishments after their death.
  
  
• Sources such as Periodicals Archive Online will produce obituaries such as Ada Smith's, a little-known poet who was honored in 1898 in The Academy where she published poetry.

Who writes this stuff?!

• Newspapers have staff who write obituaries. Since the 1980s, obituary writing has increasingly become an art form, for those newspapers that have not given up obit writing entirely. Some writers have gained recognition for their craft.
  • Alana Baranick received the 2005 Distinguished Writing Award for Obituary Writing.
    
    

• Today, smaller newspapers are offering "paid obituaries" to family members who would like to submit their own obituary to the newspaper offering personal details about a loved one's life. Paid obituaries are becoming more popular.
  
  

• Self-penned tributes have become popular. "Scores of Internet sites and even some funeral homes now offer tips on writing your own obituary." 
  • Rebecca Sinderbrand, Obits, May I Rest in Peace [Newsweek, March 8, 2004]
  • Today, there are new forms of the 'self-penned' obituary being created. Art Buchwald's "I Just Died" is his own video tribute recorded before his death. His obituary was also published by The New York Times on January 18, 2007.
    
    

• Obituaries differ among writers. 
  • Dead on : Steve Miller breathes life into the obituary [Columbia Journalism Review, Sept/Oct 2005]
    
    
• Obituaries also differ in style from country to country. Obituary writers in America tend to favor an emphasis on the person's life and achievements, while British obituary writers emphasize life stories about the deceased. 
  • Tim Bullamore, It's never been a better time to die [British Medical Journal, July 26, 2003]
  • Nigel Starck, Posthumous Parallel and Parallax : the obituary revival on three continents [Journalism Studies v.6, no.3, 2005, p.267-283]

History of Obituaries

• Obituaries leave a record of one's death, but also of one's life. The content of obituaries has changed over time, as did their importance.
  
  
• "The obituary art in its first incarnation was practiced by the news book compilers of 17th century England ... It flowered in the 18th century ... it grew luxuriant, and sometimes ornate, in the 19th century; it became unfashionable and fell into widespread neglect in the 20th. Then, with the appointment of reformist editors, the obituary experienced its own restoration." 
  • Nigel Starck, Posthumous Parallel and Parallax : the obituary revival on three continents [Journalism Studies v.6, no.3, 2005, p.267-283]
    
    
• Prior to the 19th century, obituaries focused on a person's character. In the 20th century, writers moved more toward a list of accomplishments and associations and less on the character of the deceased.
  • Ada Smith example of a 19th century obituary in Academy (1898).

Premature obituaries

• Premature obituaries of some very prominent people have been published mistakenly by newspapers. One of which was Mark Twain published in the New York Journal, to which he commented, "the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated".
  
  
• The following clarification in policy was made by a New York Times editor after an obituary was published for a person who is still alive. "I think this is a fitting moment for me to remind everyone that it is our strict policy here at The New York Times to only print obituaries about people who have died. Let me emphasize that this is not a change in procedure; we have always observed the 'die first' rule and I personally think it a valuable one."
  • Lewis Grossberger, Bring out your dead [MediaWeek, December 15, 2003]

For a list of people with premature obituaries: Answers.com or Wikipedia .

Pet obituaries

• Some newspapers print pet obituaries. Pet obits are becoming more and more popular.
• Lewis Grossberger, Spot dead! City mourns [MediaWeek, May 6, 2003]