Alabama’s newspapers date to 1811, and the state has strong local obituary indexes, including the Birmingham Public Library’s index to Birmingham-area papers. The Alabama Department of Archives and History is the state’s central resource.
Alabama obituaries in historic newspapers
The Mobile Centinel was printed in 1811 at Fort Stoddert, north of Mobile, when the area was part of the Mississippi Territory. Mobile, Huntsville, Tuscaloosa and Montgomery had papers by the 1820s, and their death notices covered planters, merchants and officials, and sometimes enslaved people named in estate notices.
Birmingham, founded in 1871, grew into the state’s industrial and newspaper center. Its papers reported deaths in the coal and steel industries, and Black papers in Birmingham, Mobile and Montgomery recorded deaths in communities that the white press often ignored.
Not all Alabama papers have been digitized, so county library indexes and microfilm remain important. The Birmingham Public Library’s obituary index covers Birmingham-area papers through 1996, and the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library keeps a local obituary index.
Where to find Alabama obituaries
Digitized Alabama newspapers
- ADAH Digital Collections — Digitized records and publications from the Alabama state archives.
Obituary and death indexes
- Obituary Index, Birmingham Public Library — Index to obituaries in Birmingham-area newspapers; copies can be ordered from the library.
Archives and libraries
- Alabama Department of Archives and History — State archives in Montgomery, with Alabama newspaper microfilm and death records.
- Huntsville-Madison County Public Library — Local history department and an obituary index for Madison County papers.
- Alabama Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to Alabama newspaper archives, indexes and microfilm, with county-by-county links.
Nationwide newspaper archives
- Chronicling America, Library of Congress — Free digitized newspapers from every state. Narrow a search to Alabama and the years you need.
- Google News Archive — Free scans of hundreds of older newspapers, browsable by title and date.
- Internet Archive newspapers — Free digitized newspapers and microfilm uploaded by libraries.
- FamilySearch — Free obituary indexes, death records and the Social Security Death Index (free account).
- Find a Grave — Volunteer-built cemetery memorials, many with transcribed obituaries.
- Newspapers.com — Large subscription archive of U.S. papers. Many public libraries offer free access.
- GenealogyBank — Subscription archive of historic newspapers and modern obituaries.
- Legacy.com — Obituaries published since about 2000 in most U.S. daily newspapers.
Tips for finding an obituary in Alabama
- Pin down the date and place first. A death index or death certificate gives the exact date and county, and then you only need to search the local papers for the following week or two.
- Search more than one town. Obituaries often ran in the paper where the person was born or had lived before, not just where they died. Small-town weeklies sometimes published a notice weeks later.
- Look beyond the word “obituary.” Older papers reported deaths under headings like “Died,” “Deaths,” local news and personals columns, funeral notices and cards of thanks. See death notices vs. obituaries.
- Try every spelling. Search initials, nicknames and misspellings, and for married women in older papers, search the husband’s name (“Mrs. John Smith”). Digitized text often misreads old type.
- Ask a librarian. Many public libraries and state archives will look up an obituary for free or a small fee, and newspaper microfilm can often be borrowed through interlibrary loan.