Massachusetts Obituaries

Ways You Can Help:

You can help us by submitting a letter to the publisher of any local Massachusetts Newspaper and get permission for current obits to be published. A sample letter can be found here.
Go through old newspapers (published prior to 1929) and copy the obituaries found. We will also accept single obituaries that you have in your files. You can submit either complete obituaries or abstracts (just the facts) of the obituaries. Check with your local library to see what old newspapers they have on microfilm.

Copyright Law:

The Massachusetts Obituary Project will abide by today's copyright laws. Obituaries published after December 31, 1929, unless:

you were the original author of the obituary, or
the newspaper in question grants permission to reprint the obituary, or
the obituary is that of a family member (you must give the relation), or
you submit an abstract of your obituaries. A good abstract might give the paper's name, name of deceased, age, date of death, and date that the obituary appears in the paper (in parenthesis).

Listed by Counties
**Only the Counties with Obituraries are Linked**
Links go directly to the Archives ftp while Table of Contents are being made.

NEW!

The Death Notice listed above are not stored in the MA Obits Project Archive. They are submissions which are stored the NH Obits Project archive.

Newspapers contacted & waiting for permission to post copyrighted obituaries:
The Boston Herald
The Editor of the Boston Globe Website (boston.com), replied to my letter and said that "...we're going to have to decline this request right now..." So no obituaries will be posted from "The Boston Globe" unless they do not violate Copyright Law.
The Director of Marketing & New Media, who works for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, wrote, "...You do not have our permission to copy or store our copyrighted material as part of your project."

Archive Newspapers

Selected Obits & Deaths
from the "New England Puritan", published Boston ~~
Transcribed by Marilyn Labbe (This is stored in the NH Obits Project Archive)

Participating Newspapers: No newspapers are currently participating.