Obituaries in Los Angeles County | Los Angeles Public Library
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Archived: 2026-04-23 17:21
Obituaries in Los Angeles County | Los Angeles Public Library
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The Los Angeles city newspapers generally only publish obituaries for well-known citizens. Death notices—which are paid announcements—appear more frequently. These vary in length, but many only give the name of the decedent and the name of a mortuary.
There is no comprehensive index to obituaries and death notices for the newspapers in Los Angeles. This means you have to either look through the newspapers page by page near the date of death (usually on microfilm), or search using keywords in a digitized format of the newspaper.
We have a subscription to the digitized
Los Angeles Times Historical Database
(1881-1994). We also provide access to the digitized newspaper databases
Access Newspaper Archives
and the
Los Angeles Sentinel Historical Archive
(1934-2005). You may access all three of these databases from home with your library card on our Research & Homework page.
You will need a valid library card to access our subscription to the
Los Angeles Times
at no cost. Access is also available online at
latimes.newspapers.com
. Searching for abstracts/citations is free, but to obtain the full-text articles you must pay a fee. Or give us the precise citation information you find, and we can scan and email the article to you for $5 per request and 25-cents-a-page.
If you don’t find the obituary in the above-mentioned databases, you could come to Central Library to pore over our other microfilmed newspapers.
This guide (PDF)
can help you find out what newspapers were published in Los Angeles for each decade. These newspapers are also not indexed, so it will help you immensely if you know the place and date of death. This information can be obtained from a death index or death certificate.
Two state-level California Death Indexes can be found at
Ancestry.com
(a database anyone can access from any library branch and Central Library) or
FamilySearch.org
(a free internet database).
California, Death Index, 1905-1939
provides the digitized index page, plus its transcription. On the digitized page, you can often find the name of the decedent, initials of his/her spouse, age at death, a number representing county or city of death (“19” for Los Angeles county; “70” for Los Angeles city), date of death and STATE-level index number.
California, Death Index, 1940-1997
only provides a transcription of the index page. From this transcription, you can often find name, Social Security number, gender, birth date and place, death date and place, mother’s maiden name, and you can order a copy of the death certificate online. This index only provides the county of death, unless the death occurred in the cities of Alameda, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco.
Some indexing for deaths prior to 1905 can be found at the
Pre-1905 CA Death Index Project
.
To obtain an actual death certificate (and not just the index) for persons dying in Los Angeles County after July 1, 1905, contact the
Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk
, 12400 E. Imperial Hwy, Norwalk, CA 90650.
For persons dying between 1940-1997, you can order a copy of the death certificate via
Ancestry.com
for a fee. Just go to the Ancestry.com database
California, Death Index, 1940-1997
and find your person by using keywords (name). Then click “Order Original Document from VitalChek.”
Some digitized death certificates are now available online via
FamilySearch.org
. From the FamilySearch.org home page, click:
Search >
Browse All Published Collections >
United States of America >
California >
California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994 >
Try typing your person’s name in the search blanks, but not everyone in this database has yet been indexed. If the death certificate does not come up for your person, ignore the search blanks and scroll to the bottom of the page; click “Browse through ____ images.”
Choose county or city (“Los Angeles” for L.A. County; “Los Angeles, Los Angeles” for the City of L.A.)
Scroll to the bottom of this big list of birth and death certificates to find the INDEX for your time frame and click on it.
Find your person alphabetically, and then note his/her index number.
Click back to get to the main list of all the birth and death certificates and choose the year and index range amongst the death certificate records for your person, and click. You will be able to find your person by the INDEX NUMBER.
The index number you find in the state-level California Death Index will not correspond with these death certificates because they are county-level; you need to use the index number found in this data set.
Obituaries, as opposed to death notices, are found more frequently in the suburban community newspapers. There are 88 cities in Los Angeles County. Many of these communities have their own newspapers, and backfiles of those papers can often be found at the public libraries in those communities (go to google.com and type [city name] public library). The database
Access Newspaper Archives
contains many of these smaller papers in digital format. For instance, many of the newspapers from Van Nuys are here from 1900-1977.
Obituaries for Los Angeles residents who were born and raised in other parts of the United States, particularly in small and medium sized communities, are often found in their hometown newspapers. Use
this newspaper directory
from the Library of Congress to find lists of newspapers published in certain locations during certain times.
The
Glendale Public Library
does local obituary searches for a fee.
The Los Angeles County Library does three free obituary searches per month per patron. The person whose obituary is sought needs to have died within Los Angeles County. Please have as much information about the death as possible (date, place, name, etc.) and call your local County library or contact them
via their website
.
The Los Angeles Public Library is unable to do obituary searches for you. However, the library can provide a Directory of Genealogists who are willing to do research for a fee. Please call 213-228-7000 or email
history@lapl.org
for this list.
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Research Guides
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African -American Literature (PDF)
African-American Ingenuity
Bilingual English-Spanish Material (PDF)
Census Tract Maps (PDF)
Environmental Impact Reports
Financing New Business (PDF)
Food and Drink
Genealogy
Grants
History of Your House
Holiday Cookery
Job Hunting and Money Guides
Literary Criticism Locator
Map Collection
Maps of Los Angeles
Military and Industry Standards and Specifications
Newspapers
Obituaries in LA County
Philosophy Research
Play Locator
Representative Maps in Los Angeles History and Growth
Sanborn Fire Insurance Atlases
Sheet Music Locator
Short Story Locator
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The Los Angeles city newspapers generally only publish obituaries for well-known citizens. Death notices—which are paid announcements—appear more frequently. These vary in length, but many only give the name of the decedent and the name of a mortuary.
There is no comprehensive index to obituaries and death notices for the newspapers in Los Angeles. This means you have to either look through the newspapers page by page near the date of death (usually on microfilm), or search using keywords in a digitized format of the newspaper.
We have a subscription to the digitized
Los Angeles Times Historical Database
(1881-1994). We also provide access to the digitized newspaper databases
Access Newspaper Archives
and the
Los Angeles Sentinel Historical Archive
(1934-2005). You may access all three of these databases from home with your library card on our Research & Homework page.
You will need a valid library card to access our subscription to the
Los Angeles Times
at no cost. Access is also available online at
latimes.newspapers.com
. Searching for abstracts/citations is free, but to obtain the full-text articles you must pay a fee. Or give us the precise citation information you find, and we can scan and email the article to you for $5 per request and 25-cents-a-page.
If you don’t find the obituary in the above-mentioned databases, you could come to Central Library to pore over our other microfilmed newspapers.
This guide (PDF)
can help you find out what newspapers were published in Los Angeles for each decade. These newspapers are also not indexed, so it will help you immensely if you know the place and date of death. This information can be obtained from a death index or death certificate.
Two state-level California Death Indexes can be found at
Ancestry.com
(a database anyone can access from any library branch and Central Library) or
FamilySearch.org
(a free internet database).
California, Death Index, 1905-1939
provides the digitized index page, plus its transcription. On the digitized page, you can often find the name of the decedent, initials of his/her spouse, age at death, a number representing county or city of death (“19” for Los Angeles county; “70” for Los Angeles city), date of death and STATE-level index number.
California, Death Index, 1940-1997
only provides a transcription of the index page. From this transcription, you can often find name, Social Security number, gender, birth date and place, death date and place, mother’s maiden name, and you can order a copy of the death certificate online. This index only provides the county of death, unless the death occurred in the cities of Alameda, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco.
Some indexing for deaths prior to 1905 can be found at the
Pre-1905 CA Death Index Project
.
To obtain an actual death certificate (and not just the index) for persons dying in Los Angeles County after July 1, 1905, contact the
Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk
, 12400 E. Imperial Hwy, Norwalk, CA 90650.
For persons dying between 1940-1997, you can order a copy of the death certificate via
Ancestry.com
for a fee. Just go to the Ancestry.com database
California, Death Index, 1940-1997
and find your person by using keywords (name). Then click “Order Original Document from VitalChek.”
Some digitized death certificates are now available online via
FamilySearch.org
. From the FamilySearch.org home page, click:
Search >
Browse All Published Collections >
United States of America >
California >
California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994 >
Try typing your person’s name in the search blanks, but not everyone in this database has yet been indexed. If the death certificate does not come up for your person, ignore the search blanks and scroll to the bottom of the page; click “Browse through ____ images.”
Choose county or city (“Los Angeles” for L.A. County; “Los Angeles, Los Angeles” for the City of L.A.)
Scroll to the bottom of this big list of birth and death certificates to find the INDEX for your time frame and click on it.
Find your person alphabetically, and then note his/her index number.
Click back to get to the main list of all the birth and death certificates and choose the year and index range amongst the death certificate records for your person, and click. You will be able to find your person by the INDEX NUMBER.
The index number you find in the state-level California Death Index will not correspond with these death certificates because they are county-level; you need to use the index number found in this data set.
Obituaries, as opposed to death notices, are found more frequently in the suburban community newspapers. There are 88 cities in Los Angeles County. Many of these communities have their own newspapers, and backfiles of those papers can often be found at the public libraries in those communities (go to google.com and type [city name] public library). The database
Access Newspaper Archives
contains many of these smaller papers in digital format. For instance, many of the newspapers from Van Nuys are here from 1900-1977.
Obituaries for Los Angeles residents who were born and raised in other parts of the United States, particularly in small and medium sized communities, are often found in their hometown newspapers. Use
this newspaper directory
from the Library of Congress to find lists of newspapers published in certain locations during certain times.
The
Glendale Public Library
does local obituary searches for a fee.
The Los Angeles County Library does three free obituary searches per month per patron. The person whose obituary is sought needs to have died within Los Angeles County. Please have as much information about the death as possible (date, place, name, etc.) and call your local County library or contact them
via their website
.
The Los Angeles Public Library is unable to do obituary searches for you. However, the library can provide a Directory of Genealogists who are willing to do research for a fee. Please call 213-228-7000 or email
history@lapl.org
for this list.
Español
Kids & Parents
Teens
How Do I?
How do I get a library card?
How do I get a Student Success Card?
How do I print from my laptop? (wireless printing)
How do I reserve a computer?
How do I renew my books?
How do I update my address/phone/e-mail online?
SEE MORE FAQs >>>
My Library Account
Enhanced Catalog Account
Get a Library Card
Reserve a Computer
Ask a Librarian
Book a Librarian
Find A Library
Connect with LAPL
YouTube
Newsletter
Top
LAPL Home
My Account
Books & E-Media
Blog
Book Bundles To Go
Catalog
Branch Periodical Subscription List
E-Media
Freegal Music
Kanopy
L.A. in Focus Videos
New York Times Digital
Freegal Music
hoopla
Kanopy
LAPL Reads
Book Lists
New Books by Genre
Staff Reviews
RSS Feeds
Resources for Readers
LAPL Writes
Book Lists
Online Resources
Indie Author Project
Submission Policy
Events
Language Collections
Libby (Overdrive)
New York Times Digital
Podcasts
ALOUD
Children Chatting
Poet Laureate
Zines
Read Freely
Education & Research
Databases - Research & Homework
California Index
Government Documents
High School Diploma
LAPL Indexes
Behymer Collection Index
Bookplate Collection
Business Magazine Index
Business & Economics Reference Works
California Documents Index
California Fiction Index
California Index
California Prints Index
Casey Fashion Plates
City Directories Index
Cookery Ephemera Index
Environmental Impact Reports
Genealogy & Local History Index
Gladys English
Government Documents - Business
Japanese Prints Index
Library Images Index
Lummis Autograph Collection Index
Menu Collection
Native American Index
Orchestration Catalog
Play File Index
Public Art Index
Series and Sequels
Short Story File Index
Song Index
Theater Program Collection
Toy Movable Database
Turnabout Theater Archive
LinkedIn Learning
Online Learning
Research Guides
Aerial Photographs
African -American Literature (PDF)
African-American Ingenuity
Bilingual English-Spanish Material (PDF)
Census Tract Maps (PDF)
Environmental Impact Reports
Financing New Business (PDF)
Food and Drink
Genealogy
Grants
History of Your House
Holiday Cookery
Job Hunting and Money Guides
Literary Criticism Locator
Map Collection
Maps of Los Angeles
Military and Industry Standards and Specifications
Newspapers
Obituaries in LA County
Philosophy Research
Play Locator
Representative Maps in Los Angeles History and Growth
Sanborn Fire Insurance Atlases
Sheet Music Locator
Short Story Locator
Small Business Research (PDF)
Treaty Research
Vital Records
Student Success
Verify Student Success Card
Tessa: Photo & Digital Collections
L.A. in Focus Videos
Shades of L.A. Oral Histories
Services & Programs
Adult Literacy
Ask a Librarian
Be a Successful Street Vendor
Overview & Permits
Cell-Ed Pathways
Resources & Links
Small Business Help
Book a Librarian
Community Outreach
Cybernauts
Explore L.A.
Homeless Resources
Jobs, Money & Small Business
Memory Lab
New Americans
Octavia Lab & Koreatown Media Lab
Reentry Resources
Reserve a Computer
Seniors
State Park Pass
STEAM
Tech2go
Veterans Resources
Wireless Printing
Neighborhood Science
Events
Adults
Babies & Toddlers
Bilingual Events
Calendar
Celebrations
Central 100 Celebration
Expedition L.A.
Exhibits
Kids
L.A. Made
Seniors
Teens
Locations & Hours
All Branches
Central Library
Departments and Services
Art, Music, & Recreation Department
Business and Economics Department
Children's Literature Department
Computer Center
History & Genealogy Department
International Languages Department
Literature & Fiction Department
Low-Vision Service Centers
Popular Library
Science, Technology, & Patents Department
Social Science, Philosophy & Religion Department
Special Collections
Appointment Request Form
Appraisals
Californiana
Gifts/Donations
Introduction to Special Collections
Mexicana
Photographs
The Special Collections Room Story
Teen'Scape
Directions
Parking
Art And Architecture
Central Library Video Wall
Historical Portraits Project
Goodhue Building
Painting
Public Art Projects
The Literate Fence Quotations
Sculpture
Themes and Inscriptions
Tom Bradley Wing
Central Library Docent Tours
Central Library Virtual Tour
Facility Rentals
Policies
Rates & Occupancy
Holiday Closures
Get Involved
Become a Friend of the Library
Join the Library Foundation of Los Angeles
Make a Donation
Shop The Library Store
Volunteer
About LAPL
Accessibility & ADA Services
Angel City Press
App
Blog
Board of Library Commissioners
Agendas and Minutes
Agendas & Minutes Archive
Board Members
Borrower Services
City Librarian
Connect With Us
Contact Us
eCard Registration
infoNow (Ask A Librarian)
Change of Address
Suggest a Purchase
Library Card Pre-Registration
Solicitud de tarjeta electrónica
Pregúntale a un bibliotecario
Formulario de cambio de dirección
Sugerir una Compra
Solicitud de tarjeta
Jobs & Business Opportunities
Perform at LAPL
Press Room
Press Release Archive
Press Images - Branch Libraries
Press Images - Central Library
Rules of Conduct
Staff Directory
Volunteer Opportunities
Español
¿Qué hay de nuevo?
Títulos recomendados
Ciudadanía
Kids & Parents
Teens
ADA
App
Blog
Connect With Us
Contact Us
FAQs
Online Privacy Policy
Site Map