Maintenance
Why do anniversaries and archives entries often leave the cause blank?
Anniversaries and archives: the blank cause line in an old record, why researchers keep trying to fill it, and what a responsible transcription does instead.
Desk
Records Desk
Contracts, warranties and the details worth reading before signing.
Features
Athletes Who Died Causes: How to Check Reports
Athletes who died causes: learn how to check a reported cause by its jurisdiction, source document, confirmation date, and the limits of its evidence.
Rules
What an in memoriam notice is, and how it differs from a death notice and an obituary
What an in memoriam notice is, how it differs from a death notice and a news obituary, what families put in one, and why researchers use them.
Reviews
What a career memorial timeline records, and where it stops
Career memorials timeline: the four kinds of date a chronology confuses, where entries come from, and the parts of a working life records never hold.
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.
Features
Actors who died corrections: writing a request editors can act on
Actors who died corrections: the three kinds of request, the six things a written request should hold, a sample, and what to expect back from editors.
Costs
Fake Appeals in “Actors Who Died This Week” Searches
Searches for actors who died this week can surface fake memorial appeals. Learn how to verify recipients, report impersonation, and act if you gave.
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.
Guides
What the National Archives holds for historical American celebrity obituaries
Federal records confirm a famous life, not a famous death. Census, military and newspaper files at NARA and the Library of Congress do the checking.
Guides
National Center for Health Statistics death records
National Center for Health Statistics death records are de-identified. Learn what NCHS data can—and cannot—confirm about a celebrity death report.
Guides
How to use the Social Security Death Index to check a reported celebrity death
The public Social Security Death Index is closed to most users, so a celebrity death check now runs through an SSA Numident request and a state record.
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.
Industry
Every correction issued against this week's reports, and why
Every correction issued against this week's reports, with the reason for each and the source document that settled it, all gathered in one place.
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.
Reviews
Which sources report deaths today, and how causes are stated
News desks, coroner offices and paid death notices each report deaths today, and each states a cause differently, or omits the cause entirely.