New Hampshire State Library

Check out this interesting article from The Library of Congress about the history of obituaries in U.S. newspapers. The first example given is an obituary from The New Hampshire Gazette in Portsmouth, N.H from March 20, 1761!
Thousands of reels of NH newspapers on microfilm are available at the NH State Library to research this very topic. Contact us for any NH newspaper research needs!

Mourn Not! A History of Obituaries in American Newspapers | Headlines & Heroes : Obituaries as we know them today are rich records of a person’s life. But did you know that this information-rich article is a very recent development? Learn more about what newspapers published from the very earliest death notices to today’s modern obituaries.