St. Louis Public Library staff have compiled an index for obituaries (written by a reporter); death notices (furnished by the family); and burial permits (usually provide only name, age, and cause of death) appearing in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper.
Years indexed at this time include 1880-1930; 1942-1945; 1960-1970; and 1992-2014. You can check our online index here:
St. Louis Public Library Obits Index
Listings in the index provide year of death, date the obit or death notice appeared in the newspaper, and the page number in that newspaper (occasional index listings do not provide a page number). The index also notes if the listing is a burial permit (*) or obituary (#).
In order to make a copy for you, we will need:
* Name of the deceased
* Exact listing from our index (or exact date of death)
* Your name
* Your mailing address
* Your phone number & email address
If you do not find the persons of interest in our index, there are several things you can do. You can try to find a death date by checking:
*
Bellefontaine Cemetery (non-denominational)
*
Catholic Cemeteries of St. Louis
*
Find a Grave
*
Social Security Death Index
*
Nationwide Gravesite Locator (for veterans and their spouses)
*
Missouri State Archives Death Certificates Database (1910-1963)
If your search finds an exact death date for a person who died in the St. Louis metro-area, we can then do an obit search for you. Please note that our index starts in 1880 because death notices were uncommon prior to that time period.
We can copy up to five obits per request. Wait until you receive those obits before making another request. It is currently taking up to four weeks to fill requests (orders are placed in the queue in the order received--rush orders are not accepted).
In some cases, we can send you a scan of the obits requested. If so, there is no cost to you.
If we are unable for whatever reasons to send a scan of obits requested, we will make print copies and mail them to you with a bill ($1.00 overall for postage & handling plus $0.25 per copy).
If we cannot locate one or more obits you have requested, you will be notified of that fact.
Send your orders to
webref@slpl.org, or call us at 314-241-2288.
