Find Fairbanks Obituary Records
Fairbanks obituary records are spread across several sources, from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner newspaper archive to digitized historical collections on FamilySearch and the Alaska State Library's newspaper index. Whether you are looking for a recent death notice or a record from the early territorial days, this page covers where to search, what each source includes, and how to get an official death certificate for someone who lived in or near Fairbanks, Alaska's second-largest city and the hub of the Interior region.
Fairbanks Overview
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Obituaries
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner is the primary newspaper of record for Fairbanks and the surrounding Interior region. It publishes current death notices and obituaries submitted by families. This is the first place to look for anyone who died in the Fairbanks area in the last several decades.
For older records, the Alaska State Library newspaper index covers Fairbanks papers going back to the early 1900s. The Alaska State Library newspaper index includes the Fairbanks Daily News from 1904 to 1975. This index is a valuable tool for locating specific obituary entries without having to search issue by issue on microfilm. Once you find the date, you can request the full text through a library holding microfilm copies of that paper.
Third-party services including Newspapers.com and GenealogyBank have also expanded their Alaska holdings. Both are subscription-based, but they allow full-text searching across page scans, which can turn up death notices that were not indexed separately. If your search in the free resources comes up empty, these paid options are worth trying.
Fairbanks Vital Records and Death Certificates
The Alaska Bureau of Vital Statistics maintains a Vital Records Control office at 3825 S Cushman Street in Fairbanks. This office serves the entire Fairbanks North Star Borough. It is the closest option for Fairbanks residents who want to order a death certificate in person rather than by mail or online.
Death certificates cost $30 for the first certified copy and $25 for each additional copy requested at the same time. Orders placed through VitalChek are processed online and typically arrive within two to three weeks. Mail-in requests to the main state office in Juneau can take two to three months depending on volume. Walk-in orders at the Cushman Street office in Fairbanks are generally handled faster.
Access to full death certificates, including cause of death, is restricted under AS 18.50. Immediate family members, legal representatives, and others with a direct interest can order certified copies. After 50 years, death records become available to the public. This means records for anyone who died before 1975 are now fully open. Earlier records, including those from the territorial period, are accessible through the state archives and FamilySearch.
Note: The CDC maintains a Where to Write for Vital Records page for Alaska that confirms current contact information for the state vital records office.
FamilySearch Fairbanks Death Records
FamilySearch has digitized a set of historical Fairbanks death records that cover the early years of the city and the surrounding region. The Fairbanks Death Certificates (1928 to 1935) collection includes registered death records from that period. The Fairbanks Death Index (1913 to 1915) and the Fairbanks Death Register (1907) extend coverage back to the earliest days of the city. These are among the oldest systematic death records available for Interior Alaska.
The Fairbanks Coroner's Inquests (1904 to 1960) is a particularly detailed collection. Inquest records were created when the cause of death was unclear or required investigation. They typically include witness testimony, a description of the body, and a determination of cause. For early Fairbanks, when many deaths occurred in remote conditions, these inquests sometimes provide the only detailed record of a person's death. The Fairbanks Court Records (1901 to 1960) also contain death-related documents, including probate filings that name decedents and their heirs.
All of these collections are free to search on FamilySearch. You will need to create a free account to view the full images. Some records are only available on microfilm at a FamilySearch center, so check the catalog entry for each collection before traveling to access them.
Fairbanks Cemetery Records
The Alaska State Library holds the Clay Street Cemetery Burial List for Fairbanks. This is cataloged under AK-R 929.5097986 FAIRBAN and is available for in-person research. Clay Street Cemetery is one of the oldest burial grounds in the city, and the burial list is a key resource for confirming interments and associated dates.
Find A Grave and BillionGraves both have substantial Fairbanks listings. Volunteers have photographed and indexed grave markers across the Fairbanks North Star Borough. These platforms are free to search and often include photos of headstones. When searching older records, try maiden names for women's entries, as pre-1970 indexing often used birth names for women in ways that can make them hard to find under a married name.
A practical guide to cemetery research in the borough is also available at grave-finder.org, which explains how to locate burial information through multiple local sources.
Fairbanks Genealogy Resources
The UAF Rasmuson Library in Fairbanks holds the Alaska and Polar Periodical Index, a collection of more than 200,000 articles from the 1980s onward. This index covers a wide range of Alaska publications and occasionally includes memorial pieces, tributes, and community notices that go beyond a standard death announcement. For local figures, academics, and longtime residents, this can be a rich secondary source.
The Fairbanks Genealogical Society newsletter, North Star Nuggets, is cataloged at the Family History Library under FHL book 979.86 B2n. The society has collected local records, family histories, and obituary references over many years. Contacting them directly can open up research paths that are not indexed anywhere online.
Probate court records are another solid source for death information. When someone dies with an estate in Fairbanks, the Alaska Superior Court handles the probate process. These filings name the deceased, the date of death, surviving family members, and the nature of the estate. The Alaska probate records guide explains how to access these files through the state archives system. For court records and active case information, the CourtView public access system covers Fairbanks North Star Borough court filings.
Alaska State Library Newspaper Index
The Alaska State Library's newspaper index is a key statewide resource that is especially useful for Fairbanks research. It covers a wide range of Alaska papers, including early Fairbanks publications, and makes it possible to find obituary entries without searching microfilm rolls by hand.
The index covers the Fairbanks Daily News from 1904 to 1975. Once you find a specific date and paper name, you can request microfilm through interlibrary loan or visit a library that holds the Fairbanks collection in person. The Alaska State Library in Juneau and the Rasmuson Library in Fairbanks are the two main repositories for these holdings.
For deaths after 1975 that are not yet in the public domain, the state library's reference staff can also help you identify which libraries hold which years of the News-Miner on microfilm or in bound print volumes.
Nearby Communities
These communities are near Fairbanks in the North Star Borough and surrounding area.