Obituary and Local History Requests

Looking for a copy of a local obituary or death, marriage or birth notice?

Request Form

• The Alameda Free Library provides a free obituary and genealogy search service. 
• Please limit obituary and genealogy requests to persons who resided in the city of Alameda. We are unable to perform searches for those who lived outside of Alameda.
• We cannot guarantee that we will find the information that you request. We search newspapers, microfilm, and our relevant digital databases.
• Please include as much information as possible about the person(s) for whom you are searching. The more information you can provide, the better the chance we can provide you with the information you need.
• Please allow up to 30 days for the research to be completed.
• Obituaries will be scanned and emailed to you.
• In regards to local history, each search for local history or local research topics is limited to 45 minutes of staff time. You may come into the library to continue extensive research and use our publicly available resources after the staff time limit has been reached. 
• Other sources to try if the decedent was not a city of Alameda resident:

Oakland Public Library
Oakland California | FamilySearch Library

Looking for Additional Information about Alameda Local History? See our holdings here. Otherwise, please email the Reference Desk at refdesk@alamedaca.gov

To place a request please fill out this form: