Explore DIG’s brand new online collection, The Funeral Programs Collection. Designed to support genealogy and historical research, this collection honors our ancestors and preserves the narratives captured in their homegoing services.
The Funeral Program Collection includes over 1,500 programs, with significant contributions by Rosalind Withers, Executive Director of the Withers Museum and Art Gallery and Teresa Hill Mays, president of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society of Memphis and the Mid-South, who were both on hand to speak at the rollout event.
The programs in the collection feature photographs, personal biographies, family lineage, and burial information. Researchers can search the collection by last name, funeral home, cemetery, or approximate birth or death date, making it a valuable resource for genealogists, historians, and anyone interested in preserving local history.
The collection is especially significant for African American family history research. Prior to the 1960s, African Americans were frequently excluded from newspaper obituary sections due to segregation in the South. Funeral programs became vital in documenting lives, preserving family connections, and recording community impact.
Explore the collection now at www.memphislibrary.org/funeral-programs or you can access from the DIG Memphis homepage.
In the news: A Better Memphis: New program at Memphis Public Libraries aims to preserve family histories – Action News 5