Funeral Programs (Obituaries)

By astrickland on Mon, 04/05/2021 - 17:39

Forums

I have funeral programs, (that I call obituaries) and would like to know how to cite them. I looked through the list on EE and could not determine which category they would be in.

One of them I wrote for my daughter's funeral, another one was written by me and my brother for our mother's funeral. The rest I recieved from attending a funeral.

Some were printed by the funeral home listed on the "obituary" or printed from home by a family member, and/or another outside source.

Submitted byEEon Mon, 04/05/2021 - 19:01

astrickland, I'm uncertain as to what "list on EE" you "looked through." Your use of the word "on" suggests that you are looking on this website for a master list of sources with models, rather than using EE itself. The website is supplemental to the book. It's not a substitute.  The book provides the essential foundation and framework for understanding the sources we are using and the reliability of the evidence we draw from those sources.

Two different things are involved here:  a funeral program and an obituary. Even if the text of each is exactly the same, and even if they are written by the same person, they have to be treated differently because they are accessed differently.

  • Obituaries that are published will be accessible to anyone and everyone, either online or at a library amid newspaper holdings. 
  • A funeral program will typically have very limited access. Funeral programs are usually personal artifacts in private possession, kept by someone in attendance.

Both EE and this forum already have much fuller discussions of each.

  1. In the search box at the top right of this page, type in funeral programs. There you'll find links that take you to other discussions of this topic. EE 3.25 covers it also. 
  2. The format for obituaries will vary according to whether you are citing a funeral-home website or a printed newspaper. A query in the search box for Citing an online obituary at a funeral home website  will take you to a discussion and one sample format. For printed newspaper obituaries, see EE 14.22.