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From: Sam Andrusko <>
Subject: RE: Contributing to Obit of the Day
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 07:36:00 -0400 (EDT)

On Sun, 31 May 1998, MRS PAT J LACY wrote:
> Would like to know more about how contributors actually contribute.
> I live in Orange Co., California & their are lots of Obits in the L.A.
> Times! daily!, I don't have skills for html or doing much of
> anything except scanning and sending to someone by E-mail.

Pat,

Thanks for the post.

Have a look at the contributor's handbook on the website--that should
work!! (I hope).

In a nutshell, you decide on a newspaper to index, contact the editor
who manages the state in which you reside, and also make sure no one else
is indexing the same newspaper (there's a list of publications indexed too
on the web site). If someone is indexing the same newspaper, co-ordinate
things with him/her. I would imagine the LA Times has a huge number of
obits daily, so am sure if someone is indexing it, he'd like help. (Oh,
"obits" also includes the small classified kind of "death notices" which
appear in large city newspapers, so I assume the LA Times has both: obits
(that is larger biographies of the deceased as well as "death notices"
published by the funeral home or societies to which the deceased
belonged).

No need to know anything about HTML. Just type it up on your favorite
word processor (or use a software program available for free from them)
and send it to your editor via email. You mentioned scanning, well, don't
forget: you would only be supplying basic information about the deceased:
surname, first name, other names (maiden or other married names for women
if it is **clearly** stated in the obit); age (if given); place of death
or last residence (if given) (also place of birth if given, but that is
rare in death notices); newspaper; date of newspaper; your id. That's it.
So, it's fast and easy.

An example: SMITH, Mary A. (JOHNSON) [KENNEDY]; 83; Chicago
IL>Los Angeles CA; LA Times; 1998-6-1; placy

The maiden name goes in ( ); other married names go in [ ]

You would only scan the text of the obit if another contributor
contacted you and asked for it. Some contributors are (unfortunately??)
interested in very common names (e.g., Frazier or Wilson), so you may get
a lot of requests from them; others (like me) are interested in "odd"
names and months can go by before I request an obit from someone. So, you
may or may not get lots of requests for full texts.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Sam Andrusko

P.S. Just looked through the publications list on the web site and
it appears no one is indexing the LA Times--so, it would be great if you
wanted to index it (And perhaps one or two others in the LA area could
help you co-ordinate an indexing project--as someone who used to try to
index the Washington DC Post (easily 100+ obits/death notices a day),
having some extra hands to help out makes it a heck of a lot easier!)

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• RE: Contributing to Obit of the Day by Sam Andrusko <>