Library Guides: Biographical Research: Obituaries and Local Sources

Finding Obituaries

Searching online for obituaries can be tricky because of how names may appear or it can be hard to pinpoint just an obituary.

Indexes to Obituaries
Thomas Cooper Library's Reference Department has indexes to obituaries from some newspapers including the New York Times (1858-1968 and 1969-1978), Times [London], and for a few professions.

New York Times Historical (1851-2016) This link opens in a new window
You can use this resource to find indexes to obituaries from 1851 through 3 years ago.

Indexes to The State Newspaper
Indexes to The State Newspaper can be found in South Caroliniana Library, as shown here.
Indexes to other SC newspapers
The South Caroliniana Library also has indexes to various other South Carolina newspapers.
South Carolina Obituary Resources
Compiled by the South Carolina State Library. Links to obituary resources created by public libraries in the state.

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Currently can search and view newspapers from Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington.

Ancestor Hunt's Obituary Search Engines and Indexes at Libraries, Universities and Societies
Some of the content is accessible online, but descriptions also alert you to in-house resources from libraries and historical societies.
Obituary Links Page
A state-by-state directory of obituaries and obituary resources. You will be prompted to pay for online content, but after searching, check to see if the library has the newspaper (especially for South Carolina).
Obituary Indexes in WorldCat
You can also use WorldCat to search for more obituary indexes in other libraries (search obituaries and indexes both as subject words).