Rules
Anniversaries and archives corrections: three ways to change an old page
Anniversaries and archives corrections: the three ways to change an old page, what a family can ask for when removal is refused, and what resurfacing costs.
Contributor
Liam B. Parker
Liam B. Parker is the editorial byline assigned to this area. Practical guides, comparisons and the questions behind a choice form this editorial remit. Subject: Celebrity Deaths and Memorials: memorial, obituary, archive. A general description is a starting point, not a substitute for the particulars. This is an editorial pen name used by the publication, not a claim of an independently verified personal identity.
Guides
Why musicians' causes of death are not recorded
Musicians who died: causes of death are not recorded here. Why this archive keeps no cause field, what gets misread, and what the record holds instead.
Rules
What reliable sources report about causes of death for actors
Actors who died: what coroners, medical examiners and vital records offices publish about causes of death, and why a screen credit gap is not one.
Rules
How to read the cause line in a celebrity death notice
Read the cause line of a celebrity death notice in four parts: wording, speaker, date and document, and learn which sources confirm a cause.
Guides
Career memorials this week: five earlier cases, 2023–2024
Career memorials this week: five earlier cases, 2023–2024, each with the office or archive that settles it — from Georgia vital records to the Irish GRO.
Rules
How a deaths-today page is sourced: CDC counts, state certificates and memorial notices
How a celebrity deaths-today page is sourced: NCHS provisional data, CDC WONDER, state vital records, medical examiner releases and family notices, and which record supports which claim.
Rules
Celebrity Funeral Home Death Announcement Basics
Celebrity funeral home death announcement basics: how families and clergy share approved service details through notices, websites, and bulletins.
Rules
What city, union and venue notices about a musician death can prove
A guide to reading early city, union and venue signals after a musician death, what each notice can and cannot confirm, and how to keep a dated source trail.
Maintenance
Publishers can be asked to correct a cause of death they never confirmed
Cause of death corrections: how to ask a publisher to remove a cause the family never gave, what the request should contain, and what to expect back.
Reviews
Cause of death guides: which records hold a cause
Cause of death guides: which records hold a cause, who may request a certified copy, and what an obituary archive can publish when none is released.
Industry
Why athletes who died this week often surface late
Athletes who died this week: why retired competitors go unreported, and how to trace one through local papers, death indexes and civil records.
Features
Actors who died: remembering Poitier, White and Rickman
Remembering actors who died: Sidney Poitier, Betty White and Alan Rickman, with their death dates, representative roles and distinct screen legacies.
Features
California and New York obituary archives: sourcing
California and New York obituary archives include newspaper collections and memorial sites, but these are not vital-record registers. Learn how to cite sources.
Features
How US sports leagues, teams and unions handle an athlete death announcement
A walk through the league, team and union channels that announce an athlete death in the US, plus how to verify a report and what to do when a league stays silent.
Features
Tracing a musician's death through Nashville and New Orleans memorial customs
Nashville and New Orleans musician death memorial customs diverge: label notices and CMA announcements versus jazz funerals and second lines.
Rules
California Death Certificate Facts for Archive Research
California death certificate facts for archive research: copy types, restricted fields, the 50-year rule, and where related records may appear.
![Coroner I.L. Feinberg at the coroner's office in the Criminal Court Building, at Centre And Franklin Streets. Bain News Service,, publisher. Coroner Israel Feinberg - N.Y. [between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915] 1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller. Notes: Title from unverified data provided by the Bai. Celebrity Coroner Report Search: How to Request and Read One](/covers/celebrity-coroner-report-search-640.webp?v=17997593)
Rules
Celebrity Coroner Report Search: How to Request and Read One
Celebrity coroner report search: which office holds the report, Los Angeles County and Florida access rules, fees and limits, and how to read the summary.
Costs
Celebrity Death Certificate Request California: Steps, Fees, and Forms
Celebrity death certificate request California requires Form VR-20, proven eligibility, and fees from $24 to about $39. County offices vary by wait time.
Rules
Celebrity Death Hoax Check: Verifying Reports Before You Share
Celebrity death hoax check: verify reports before you share. Steps, sources, and consequences for false death claims on US social platforms.
Guides
Celebrity Probate Court Records Search: What Courts Publish
Celebrity probate court records search depends on state rules. This guide covers what US courts publish, what stays sealed, and how to request a file.
Rules
State Death Record Seal Rules: CA, FL, NY
State death record seal rules in California, Florida, and New York share a 50-year cause-of-death window, but early access differs by state.
Rules
Deaths by year by age: how to read the age field
Deaths by year by age: how to read the age field in a memorial record, the errors that cluster around it, and how to turn an age into a birth-year window.
Reviews
Deaths by year this week: how archives review reports
Deaths by year this week: how a celebrity memorial archive reviews unresolved reports, tracks aging claims, and decides what to publish, pursue, hold, or drop.
Reviews
Anniversaries and archives: finding and citing an old death notice
Anniversaries and archives: what an anniversary piece is for, which body holds each death record, how to find an old notice and how to cite it in Chicago style.
Rules
How to research athletes who died: a six-step guide
Researching athletes who died means matching a competitive name on a results sheet to a civil record, and citing a dated, named source for every entry.
Guides
Cause of death guides: how records differ
Cause of death guides explain how US death certificates, investigative findings, notices, and obituaries differ, and how a cause may be certified or amended.
Features
Deaths by month: where celebrity death notices belong
Read deaths by month using the date a celebrity died, not when a notice appeared. Includes named historical examples and a weekly-notice checklist.
Guides
How a weekly deaths record is closed, rechecked, and frozen at the end of the week
The closing pass for a weekly deaths record: entries rechecked against sources, what verified means at close, what crosses the boundary, how a closed page is left.
Industry
Why tributes do not confirm that a musician has died
Tributes, streams and reissues follow a report that musicians died, whether it is true or false. What each signal shows, and how to trace it to a source.