A Short History of Death UPDATED

Ruth Compton Brouwer's recent article in the Journal of Canadian Studies, “'[L]ike a page from history'? A Half-Century of Death Notices in The Globe and Mail" might be said to break new grounds. It's a study of the history of paid death notices over the last fifty years.

These aren't the obituaries written by journalists about the famous. Brouwer is interested in the paid death notices submitted to newspapers by families seeking to inform their friends and acquaintances about the death of a loved one. (The last surviving trace of the classified ad, almost.) 

Brouwer observes that death notices used to be short, factual, semi-official: date and cause of death, family links, time and place of funeral, etc. Not much more.

Barebones and sober in 1970, death notices evolved, albeit slowly, over the next several decades until, in the 21st century, they have become a lengthy and fulsome celebration of a life, a determined attempt to vivify the deceased’s unique personality. Their content reflects both the era when their subjects were in their heyday and the narrative choices that their biographers make in presenting their life and values.

Brouwer observes that "obvious airbrushing notwithstanding, death notices are a valuable source for scholars, providing a wealth of information about such matters as the significance, and signifiers, of social class, gender, religion, and family values in the fashioning of the deceased’s identity."

It has struck me occasionally that whenever the deceased had that simple cottage on Lake Whatever, the death notice will emphasize what an important place it played in their life. By comparison, actual homes barely rate a mention.

Update, June 13: Charles Levi writes:

Thanks for alerting me to the CJS article.  As someone who actively uses death notices in their sideline historical work (that PhD thesis will never really be finished) I also have noticed how hard it is to ferret out the essential biographical details from the massive texts.  

And also what tends to be missing (often discarded partners). And yes, there is a distinct focus on cottage country and international travel, and not much about primary residences.

What is more striking, over the last seventy-five years, has been the complete disappearance of marriage and birth notices, which used to take up a fair amount of space. and which were very useful.  I am curious to know why that happened.

Is it that Facebook and Insta and whatever are good enough for births and marriages but a death still requires a "tombstone," particularly when the remains are as likely to be scattered as interred? 

Update June 16:  Charles Levi:

There was something more public about the birth and marriage notices when they were in the newspaper. You didn't have to guess whether anyone had been married, and then search for whatever social media notice they had posted.

 It probably has to do more with the breakdown of "society", which has been facilitated by those smart phone things and social media. After all, even when birth and marriage notices were in newspapers, it was only certain types of people who posted those notices. As far as I know.