Oklahoma’s first newspaper was printed in Cherokee and English in 1844. The Oklahoma Historical Society’s Gateway to Oklahoma History has digitized papers from both Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory and is free to search.
Oklahoma obituaries in historic newspapers
The Cherokee Advocate began in Tahlequah in 1844 and printed in English and the Cherokee syllabary. Other Indian Territory papers served the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole nations, and their notices are an important record of deaths in tribal communities.
After the land runs began in 1889, hundreds of papers sprang up in new towns across Oklahoma Territory, some lasting only a few years. Oklahoma also had historic all-Black towns such as Boley and Langston, whose newspapers recorded their residents. Later papers record the oil booms, the Dust Bowl and the 1921 Tulsa massacre.
The Gateway to Oklahoma History, built by the Oklahoma Historical Society with the University of North Texas, holds a large and growing collection of digitized Oklahoma newspapers. The Historical Society’s research center in Oklahoma City has genealogy guides and newspaper microfilm.
Where to find Oklahoma obituaries
Digitized Oklahoma newspapers
- The Gateway to Oklahoma History — Free digitized Oklahoma and Indian Territory newspapers.
Archives and libraries
- Genealogy, Oklahoma Historical Society — Guides to Oklahoma death records, tribal records and newspaper research.
- Oklahoma Newspapers, FamilySearch Research Wiki — Volunteer-maintained guide to Oklahoma 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 Oklahoma 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 Oklahoma
- 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.