Obituaries, Death Notices, and Guides to Burial Places of Notables

A Guide to the Collections
of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building

Obituaries and Death Notices

An obituary is a published notice of a death printed in newspapers and other publications.  They can vary from a few sentences in length up to a full page.  Death notices tend to be briefer and are paid advertisements placed in newspapers by family or friends.

Obituaries provide an important tool to researchers by offering biographical information on individuals that may not be readily available elsewhere.  In many cases, the obituary supplies the only biographical data extant on a person.  For well-known and famous people, obituaries are useful in offering a contemporary perspective on a person’s life.

Death notices (also known as paid obituaries) normally appear on the bottom of obituary pages in American newspapers.  Formerly, they contained only references to the survivors of the deceased and the date and location of the funeral services.  In recent years their scope has expanded and, like obituaries, these notices often also include details on the deceased's education, employment, avocations, scholarly interests, and memberships in organizations and societies.  A death notice normally appears the day after a death and may appear for several days following.

If you need further assistance, visit our reference desk in the General Research Division (Room 315) or e-mail us at grdref@nypl.org.  You can also find assistance at the Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy (Room 121) or can e-mail this division at histref@nypl.org.