Obituary Request

For this research service, Library Staff will search for one individual's obituary or death notice in up to two different newspapers.

Turnaround: Research is usually completed and sent within 60 business days.

About This Research Service: Obituaries are not indexed, so providing accurate location and date information is very important. Obituaries were usually published in a person's hometown newspaper or in the newspaper for the community closest to where they lived, which is not necessarily the same as the place where they died. Staff will search in the newspapers in or closest to the location specified. If the death occurred in Minnesota between 1907 and 2001, you can find the exact date in our Death Certificate Index.

Staff will search in up to two newspapers in or closest to the location specified. The search includes up to 7 issues of a daily paper or 4 issues of a weekly paper.

Other options for locating an obituary include:

• Visit the Minnesota Historical Society Library
• Interlibrary loan of newspaper microfilm
• Hire an independent contract researcher

There is a separate research service for newspaper articles that are not obituaries. Request a newspaper article.