A memorial book is a book made in memory of someone who has died. The name covers six different things: the guest book signed at a funeral, a book of letters from family and friends, a photo book, the Jewish sefer zikaron, the yizkor book of a whole town, and a researched family history. They differ most in what they hold and how long they take.
Which book people mean by "memorial book" depends on who is speaking. A funeral home means the guest book on the stand by the door. A family usually means a book about the person, made in the weeks after the funeral, and a frum family may mean a sefer zikaron. A genealogist means the yizkor book of a Jewish town in Eastern Europe. This guide sets the six kinds of memorial book side by side, with what each holds, how long it takes and what it costs, then takes each in turn and ends with how to choose one for a parent.
Key points
- A memorial book is any book made in memory of someone who has died, and the name covers six kinds, from the funeral guest book to a researched family history.
- The funeral guest book holds the names of the people who came. Funeral homes supply them, and bookstores sell hardcover guest books for about $20 to $25.
- A book of letters or a photo book can be made by the family in a few weeks, for the cost of printing.
- The sefer zikaron and the town yizkor book are the two older Jewish forms: one remembers a person, the other a whole community.
- A researched family history sets the person's life inside the family's history from records, and takes three to four months, or thirty days for a first edition when a date is fixed.
- Most families end up with more than one: the guest book from the funeral, and a book about the person made later.
The kinds of memorial book, side by side
| Kind | What it holds | Who makes it | How long it takes | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Funeral guest bookAlso called a register book | The names of the people who came, with short messages to the family | The funeral home supplies it, or the family buys one | Ready on the day, and filled in at the visitation and the funeral | About $20 to $25 from a bookstore; $45 to $125 in one funeral home's 2026 price list |
| Memory book of lettersAlso called a tribute book | Letters and stories from family and friends, often with photographs | A member of the family collects the letters and has them bound | Three to six weeks, most of it waiting for letters | The printing, about the same as a photo book of the same length |
| Photo memorial book | Photographs from the whole life, each with a caption | The family chooses the photographs, and a photo book printer prints them | A few evenings to choose and caption, then about a week to print | About $30 to $85 for a 20-page hardcover; about $125 to $180 for 60 pages |
| Sefer zikaron | A life of the person, hespedim, divrei Torah, letters and photographs, often with a family tree and yahrzeit dates | The family, often with a rav or an editor, and a printer of seforim | A few weeks to a year | Set by the number of pages and copies; ask the printer for a quote |
| Town yizkor book | The history of a Jewish town in Eastern or Central Europe, memories of its people, photographs and lists of residents who were killed | Former residents of the town, through their landsmanshaft | Compiled after the war, most between the 1950s and the 1970s | Many can be read free online; English translations are sold in print |
| Researched family historyZichronos | The parent's life set in the family's history: records found in archives, with translations, maps, a family tree and what is still unknown | A researcher and writer, from the family's papers, interviews with relatives and the archives | Three to four months; a first edition in thirty days when the book is needed by a date | Set out in what a family history book costs |
Times are typical. Prices as each seller publishes them, checked October 2026, before shipping. A book of letters takes as long as its slowest letter, and archives answer on their own schedules.
The funeral guest book
The guest book, or register book, sits on a stand at the visitation and the funeral, and the people who come write their names and a line to the family. Afterward it is often the only list of who came. Families read it in the weeks that follow, when they write their thank-you notes, and many guest books have pages for the order of service and the flowers as well. Many Jewish families also keep one at the house in the week of visits after the funeral, so they know later who came.
Where to buy a funeral guest book
Most funeral homes supply one, often with the prayer cards or memorial folders in a stationery package. The 2026 price list of Perl Funeral Home in Medford, Oregon, gives $45 for a standard register book and $125 for a premium one. If the funeral home does not supply one, bookstores and stationers sell hardcover guest books; at The Book Catapult, a San Diego bookstore, a 100-page hardcover lists at $22.99. A bookstore may need a few days to order one, so ask before the funeral.
What to write in a funeral guest book
Write your full name, so the family can tell which of two Davids you are, and how you knew the person, such as "from the office, 1988 to 2001" or "her neighbor on Elm Street". If there is room, add one short memory. The family will read the book when the funeral is a blur, and a line such as "He taught me to fish every summer at the lake" tells them something they may not have known.
Personalized guest books
A personalized guest book carries the person's name and dates on the cover, often with a photograph set into it, and sometimes a favorite verse or saying on the first page. Funeral homes offer them among their stationery, usually at a higher price than a plain book. A book made to order by a stationer or a printer may take longer than the few days before a funeral, so ask before ordering.
Guest book ideas for a celebration of life
At a celebration of life the guest book is often looser. Families set out cards that ask one question, such as "What is your favorite memory of her?", and bind the cards afterward. Others put out a book with a photograph on each page and space beside it for people to write.
Online and digital memorial books
Most funeral homes post the obituary on their website with a page where people can leave messages and photographs, and families sometimes call this an online memorial book. Families who want to keep the messages print them, since a website may not last as long as a printed page, and many add them to the guest book or to a memory book.
A memory book of letters from family and friends
A memory book, sometimes called a tribute book, gathers letters and stories about the person from the people who knew them. The letters are bound in the order of the person's life, with photographs where people send them, and printed in as many copies as the family needs. A book of letters usually takes three to six weeks, and its printing costs about the same as a photo book of the same length.
The letter that asks for memories matters more than the binding. These steps make one in about a month:
- Choose one person to gather the letters. One name and one address make it easy for people to answer.
- Write to relatives and friends, oldest friends first. They hold the years no one else remembers.
- Ask each person for one story, about a page long. Give a date about two weeks away, and ask for a photograph with names and a year on the back.
- Send one reminder a few days before the date. Most letters arrive after it.
- Put the letters in the order of the person's life. Childhood friends first, grandchildren last.
- Print a copy for each household, and keep the originals together in one box.
The same book can be printed for a celebration of life held weeks after the funeral, and handed out on the day. When it is wanted by the shloshim, a shloshim memorial book sets out what can be ready in thirty days.
What to write in a memory book
Write one story, with when and where it happened, rather than a list of the person's qualities. Say what they meant to you in a sentence, and sign with your full name and how you knew them, since grandchildren reading the book in thirty years will not know who you were. A page is plenty.
A photo memorial book
A photo memorial book tells the life in photographs, from the earliest that survive to the last, with a caption under each. The captions are what make it last, naming the people in each picture with the place and the year, as far as anyone knows. Ask the oldest relatives to name the faces before the book is made, since in a generation no one will be able to.
Photo book printers publish their prices. In October 2026 a 20-page hardcover started at $29.99 to $84.99 at Mixbook and $39.98 to $71.22 at Shutterfly, depending on size and finish, with each further page about $1.79 to $2.74. A 60-page hardcover ten inches square comes to roughly $125 to $180 at list price, before sales and shipping.
Printing and delivery take about a week. Choosing the photographs and writing the captions takes most families several evenings, and the printers let a family add pages of text between the photographs, such as a short life story or a letter.
A sefer zikaron
A sefer zikaron is the memorial book many frum families publish for a parent or grandparent. It usually holds a life of the person, the hespedim given in their memory, divrei Torah in their memory or in their own words, letters and photographs, and often a family tree with yahrzeit dates. Many are printed for the shloshim or the first yahrzeit and given to the family and to friends.
The family usually gathers the material, often with a rav or an editor for the Torah sections, and a printer of seforim produces it. Customs differ, for example on printing photographs, so ask your rav.
A town yizkor book
A yizkor book remembers a whole Jewish town. After the Second World War, former residents of hundreds of towns in Eastern and Central Europe, working through their landsmanshaftn, the societies of people from the same town, wrote and published books about communities that had been destroyed. Most are in Yiddish or Hebrew. They hold the town's history, memories of daily life, photographs and lists of the residents who were killed, compiled from memory and never complete.
For a family whose parents or grandparents came from such a town, the yizkor book can hold a street or a relative's name found nowhere else. The New York Public Library holds more than 800 yizkor books, and about 85 percent of them can be read free online. The JewishGen Yizkor Book Project has translated many into English and sells some as printed books.
A researched family history
A researched family history sets the parent's life inside the family's history. It starts from the papers at home and from interviews with relatives, then goes to the records: registers of births and marriages, passenger lists, naturalization files, and letters to the archives of the countries the family came from, with translations of what comes back. The finished book has maps, a family tree, the records themselves and a plain account of what is still unknown.
It can hold the other kinds as well. The letters from friends can open a chapter, the captioned photographs can run through it, and a yizkor book's memory of the town can sit beside what the town's own records show.
Zichronos makes this kind of book, and most commissions take three to four months. What a family history book is compares the kinds of family history, and Inside a book shows the pages of the example.
How to choose the best memorial book for a parent
Most families end up with more than one. The guest book comes with the funeral, and the only decision is which one. After that, the choice turns on time and on what the family wants to keep.
- To keep what friends remember, a book of letters, started in the first weeks while memories are fresh.
- To keep the faces, a photo book, with every caption checked by the oldest relative who can still name them.
- For a frum family, a sefer zikaron for the shloshim or the first yahrzeit.
- To keep where the family came from, a researched history, which can take in the letters and photographs as well.
Time matters as much as the kind. A photo book can be made in a week, a book of letters in about a month, and a researched book in three to four months, so the date the family wants to give it often decides the choice.
When the book is needed by a date
A guest book holds names, and a photo book holds faces. A researched book holds where the family came from, and some families want it in hand at the end of the shloshim or on the first yahrzeit, to give to children and grandchildren that day. When a book is needed by a fixed date, Zichronos can take it on as a priority commission. The first edition is built in thirty days from the family's papers, interviews with relatives and the records that can be searched directly, and printed copies arrive in time for the date.
Requests to the archives go out at once. Archives answer on their own schedules, so records that arrive later go into an updated edition, and a priority fee applies. A memorial book by the shloshim explains what can be ready in thirty days, family history book examples shows finished books, what a family history book costs sets out what services charge, and How we work gives the steps. The guides to the obituary and the eulogy are in memorials and tributes.
Sources: the 2026 general price list of Perl Funeral Home, Medford, Oregon; guest book prices at The Book Catapult; the published photo book prices of Mixbook and Shutterfly, all checked October 2026; the New York Public Library's guide to yizkor books; the JewishGen Yizkor Book Project; Yad Vashem's guidelines on yizkor books, on when they were written.
Questions families ask
What is a memorial book?
A memorial book is a book made in memory of someone who has died. It can be the guest book signed at the funeral, a book of letters or photographs about the person, a sefer zikaron, the yizkor book of a Jewish town, or a researched history of the person and their family. Most families mean a book about the person, made after the funeral.
What is the difference between a memorial book and a guest book?
A guest book is signed at the funeral or the visitation. It holds the names of the people who came, with a line to the family, and the funeral home usually supplies it. A memorial book is usually a book about the person, with their story and photographs, made by the family in the weeks or months after.
Where can I buy a funeral guest book?
Ask the funeral home first, since most include one in their stationery; one Oregon funeral home's 2026 price list gives $45 for a standard register book and $125 for a premium one. Bookstores and stationers sell hardcover guest books for about $20 to $25, though a store may need a few days to order one.
Who keeps the funeral guest book?
The family. The funeral home gives the guest book to the family after the service, and it usually stays with the husband or wife, or with the child who arranged the funeral. Brothers and sisters who want the names can copy the pages, and many families add the guest book's messages to a memory book later.
How long does it take to make a memorial book?
A photo book can be chosen in a few evenings and printed in about a week. A book of letters usually takes three to six weeks, most of it waiting for letters. A researched family history takes three to four months at Zichronos, or thirty days for a first edition when the book is needed for the shloshim or another fixed date.
Can I make a memory book with photos and text myself?
Yes. Photo book printers let a family lay out photographs with captions and add pages of text, such as a short life story or letters from relatives. Choosing the photographs and writing the captions takes several evenings, and printing about a week. Ask the oldest relatives to name every face before the book goes to print.
What is the best memorial book for a parent?
The one that keeps what the family most wants to keep. For friends' memories, a book of letters, and for the faces, a photo book with careful captions. A frum family often makes a sefer zikaron. For where the family came from and what the records say, a researched family history, which can hold the letters and photographs as well.