Minnesota’s first newspaper appeared in 1849, and the Minnesota Historical Society has digitized millions of pages through its Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub. Its People Search adds statewide death record indexes.
Minnesota obituaries in historic newspapers
James Goodhue printed the Minnesota Pioneer in St. Paul in 1849, weeks after Minnesota became a territory. By statehood in 1858, papers were spreading along the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, and later along the railroads into the prairie and the north woods.
Minnesota had one of the largest Scandinavian-language presses in the country, including Swedish, Norwegian and Danish papers, along with German, Finnish, Czech and Ojibwe-language publications. These papers often printed obituaries for immigrants who are barely mentioned in English-language papers. Iron Range papers reported mining accidents, and the 1918 Cloquet fire and influenza epidemic both left long lists of the dead.
The Minnesota Historical Society has collected Minnesota newspapers since the territorial period, and its Digital Newspaper Hub makes much of that collection free to search.
Where to find Minnesota obituaries
Digitized Minnesota newspapers
- Digital Newspapers, Minnesota Historical Society — Free access to the Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub and other digitized Minnesota papers.
Obituary and death indexes
- People Search, Minnesota Historical Society — Free indexes to Minnesota death records and other genealogy sources.
Archives and libraries
- Minnesota Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to Minnesota 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 Minnesota 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 Minnesota
- 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.