Q. How can I find an obituary through Sarasota County Libraries?

There are a few different ways to search for obituaries depending on where the individual passed away.

Sarasota Area

If the person was from the Sarasota area, an obituary may have been published in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. The library provides digital access from 1995 to the present through our NewsBank database, located in our Digital Library under the Newspaper tab.

Please note that this resource does not provide digitized page images, only the full text of the article. If you would like a full copy of the article, the Selby Public Library in downtown Sarasota has microfilm copies of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune from October 4, 1924 through January 20, 2010. These can be viewed on microfilm readers at the library, and patrons can make copies or save pages to a flash drive. However, issues from the following dates are missing:

• February 1-28, 1954
• August 1-31, 1957
• September 16-30, 1970
• August 1-15, 1979
• October 16-31, 1982
• February 1-5, 2004
• February 6-10, 2004
• February 11-15, 2004

If you are unable to visit Selby Library or are unable to locate the obituary you need, you can contact Sarasota County Historical Resources (opens in a new tab) at 941-861-6090 or use our Ask Us service to see whether there is another way to obtain the obituary. You can submit your request through the "Email us your question" webform on this page.

Nearby Counties

If you are looking for an obituary published in the Bradenton Herald or in Manatee County, you can contact the Manatee County Public Library System for help locating a copy. For more information, visit Manatee County obituary request information (opens in a new tab).

If you are looking for obituaries published in Charlotte County, you can contact the Charlotte County Public Library System for help locating a copy. For more information, visit Charlotte County library history services (opens in a new tab).

If you are looking for obituaries published in DeSoto County, you can contact the DeSoto County Library System (Heartland Library Cooperative) for help locating a copy. For more information, visit Heartland Library Cooperative historical resources (opens in a new tab).

Additional Resources

For people outside the Sarasota area, or for those who would like to continue searching online, Sarasota County Libraries also provides access to Ancestry Library Edition through our Digital Library under the Genealogy tab. Ancestry Library Edition can only be accessed at a Sarasota County Library location. It can help locate obituary publication information and, in some cases, the obituary itself. This resource may be especially useful for people searching for obituaries outside the United States.

Google News Archive (opens in a new tab) is a free online resource that offers digital copies of various newspapers, including the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. There are over 15,000 issues of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in the archive, with dates between October 4, 1925 and December 20, 2008. However, some issues are not included, and some issues are incomplete.

Lastly, Death Indexes (opens in a new tab) is a free site that provides a large collection of records, including obituaries, wills, and ceremonial records for all 50 states.

This content was edited and reviewed with assistance from ChatGPT, including support for clarity and accessibility considerations. Final review, validation, and approval were completed by County staff.