Massachusetts Newspapers. Researching Obituaries.

Guide to Finding Obituaries and Death Notices for Genealogical Research.

Our staff can research Massachusetts newspapers for obituaries and death notices from across the state.

We have access to most Massachusetts newspapers, including major daily papers and local weekly papers at Boston Public Library in Copley Square.

You can begin a search by reviewing a list of Massachusetts newspaper indexes and database's.

Contact us if you're interested in hiring us to search for one, or several, obituaries, or other news story, that are only available, locally, on good, old, microfilm.

"Whether it's an obituary, marriage notice, headline news story, crime, court trial coverage or other newsworthy event, newspaper research can provide information generally not found in any other type of document. It can readily open doors to other information and shed light on new avenues never thought to pursue."

Over the course of over three hundred years of Massachusetts newspaper publishing, literally hundreds of major daily, weekly and semi-weekly newspapers have come and gone from public view.

For a researcher, sorting through these publications can be a rather daunting task. To help narrow down this exhaustive and sometimes overwhelming list of possibilities, mass-doc.com compiled a directory to Massachusetts daily newspapers.

We did not include weekly newspapers, of which literally hundreds have been published. Many of the smaller Massachusetts towns have always had and still have, a weekly newspaper. For some counties, primarily in the western part of the state, weekly papers are more the norm. These papers may be added in the future. Also, the directory does not include 18th century newspapers. With very few exceptions,  most 18th century newspapers were published in and around the greater Boston area.

The directory is sorted by county of publication. Please understand that many of these daily papers covered, and/or continue to cover, a wide geographic area. If a particular city or town you're interested in is not listed, look for an adjacent town that is listed.

Also, newspapers are certainly not county specific.

By that we mean, just because the paper is located in one particular county, it does not mean news from surrounding towns in adjacent counties is or was not included. For example, the Brockton Enterprise, listed under Plymouth County, has always contained news for neighboring Bristol and Norfolk county towns.

Also, be aware that dates listed are not necessarily the full dates of publication. The dates indicated are what is accessible for researching by our research staff. The majority of these papers are on microfilm and the dates listed are either what has been filmed or what has been purchased by the research repository.

The "+" sign after a date means the paper is currently publishing and microfilm is accessible to date.

We have also compiled a directory of known published or available Massachusetts newspaper indexes. Please realize that very few papers have ever been indexed, but that too is beginning to change. The arrival of CD's and other sophisticated new technologies are beginning to break through this once insurmountable "brick wall".

On the same page,  you can also search a few on line newspaper archive indexes which include present-day (as early as 1983, but more often from 1995+) obituary archives from local Massachusetts papers.