Alaska’s first newspaper was written by hand in Sitka in 1868. Alaska’s Digital Newspaper Program has put more than 150,000 pages of Alaska papers from 1898 to 1963 online for free.
Alaska obituaries in historic newspapers
The Sitka Times was produced by hand in 1868, shortly after the United States purchased Alaska from Russia. Printed papers followed in Sitka and Juneau in the 1880s, and the gold rushes of the late 1890s brought papers to Skagway, Dawson, Nome and Fairbanks.
Gold rush papers reported deaths on the trails and in the camps, from avalanches, drowning, disease and cold, and those notices were often reprinted in the deceased’s home-town paper in the lower 48. Later papers covered fishing, canneries, the building of the Alaska Railroad and the 1918 influenza epidemic, which devastated Alaska Native villages.
The Alaska State Library leads Alaska’s Digital Newspaper Program and contributes its pages to Chronicling America. The library also keeps indexes for finding articles, including obituaries, in older Alaska newspapers.
Where to find Alaska obituaries
Digitized Alaska newspapers
- Alaska’s Digital Newspaper Program, Alaska State Library — Free digitized Alaska newspapers, 1898–1963.
Obituary and death indexes
- Finding articles in older Alaskan newspapers — The State Library’s guide to Alaska newspaper indexes, including obituary indexes.
Archives and libraries
- Alaska Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to Alaska 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 Alaska 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 Alaska
- 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.