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About
the Microtext Department
The Microtext Department holds the major part of the Boston Public Library's holdings of
microfilm, microfiche, and microprint. The Department's holdings include roughly 163,000
rolls of microfilm, 2.5 million microfiche, and 6,345 boxes of microprint.The Microtext Department is located on the
western side of the street floor of the McKim Building. The Newspaper Room, across the Northwest
Corridor in the McKim Building, is a part of the Microtext Department.
The Department's holdings are based on
format. The subject areas covered by the Department overlap the coverage of other
departments. The Department's holdings complement and supplement the holdings of the
subject-based departments.
Among the Department's holdings are:
- biographical dictionaries
- business and trade directories
- census population schedules for New
England
- ERIC
- genealogy and local history
- immigration passenger lists
- newspapers, with a concentration on
Massachusetts newspapers
- presidential papers
- regimental histories of the American
Civil War
- retrospective collections of American,
British and Canadian publications
- Sanborn Fire Insurance Atlases
- United States city directories
- compiled collections of:
- black history
- history of photography
- labor history
- women's history
- other subjects
About the Obituary Database
The Obituary Database is a
running file of full-length obituaries that appeared in the Boston Globe and
the Boston Herald. Currently, this database includes obituaries published between
1971 and 1974, and obituaries published from 1983 to the present*. (*There
may be a six-month to one year delay in entering current obituaries.)
If you cannot find who you are looking
for in the Obituary Database, there could be several possibilities:
- The person did not have a full length
obituary. Most of the deceased have only death notices, which are not part of this
database.
- The date may not have been entered into
the database (dates included: 1971-74; 1990-1997). To find an obituary for dates
not covered in this database, consult the obituary card file at the rear of the Microtext
Reading Room at the Boston Public Library.
If you have any problems, feel free to
consult a member of the Microtext Department staff at the Boston Public Library. The phone
number is: (617) 536-5400 ext. 2018.
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Selected Jewish Sources at the
Microtext Department
Newspapers on Microfilm
Genealogy and Family History Resources
(Social Sciences Department, Boston Public Library)
Search the BPL's Obituary Index Database
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