Dear Friends and Cousins, The article below - about the Periodical Source Index - comes from the copyrighted Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter for March 29. I discovered (with a Google search) that The Periodical Source Index (PERSI) is available through Ancestry.com. You have to be a subscriber (at something like $70 a year) to Ancestry.com, but that subscription gets you many many indexes, including census records (and actual images of the censuses). Best, David Arne Sisson * PERSI Online * HeritageQuest Online division has released PERSI Online. The Periodical Source Index, or PERSI, is the largest subject index to genealogical and historical periodical articles in the world. Created by the foundation and department staff of the Historical Genealogy Department of the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, PERSI is widely recognized as being a vital source for genealogical researchers. PERSI is a comprehensive subject index covering genealogy and local history periodicals written in English for many countries since 1800 as well those published in French about Canadian genealogy topics. The time period of the articles ranges from the 1700s to the present. More than 1.6 million index citations from more than 6,500 journals are represented in this work. PERSI is an index; it tells where the original articles can be found. When finding a reference, the user may need to go elsewhere to find the original article. While some articles are available online, many are available only in print. The PERSI database supplies information about how to order copies of the original articles. The required work should be minimal. I have not yet had an opportunity to use the new implementation of PERSI. However, several people whose opinions I respect have reported that it is very easy to use and quickly produces results. ProQuest's online products are not available directly to private individuals. I work at the New England Historic Genealogical Society and can report that visitors to the society in Boston can access this database at no additional charge. I know that many public libraries and most of the other large genealogy societies also offer similar services to their visitors.

----- Original Message ----- From: "David" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, April 05, 2004 9:27 AM Subject: [SISSON-L] PERSI > > Dear Friends and Cousins, > > The article below - about the Periodical Source Index - comes from the > copyrighted Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter for March 29. > > I discovered (with a Google search) that The Periodical Source Index > (PERSI) is available through Ancestry.com. You have to be a subscriber > (at something like $70 a year) to Ancestry.com, but that subscription > gets you many many indexes, including census records (and actual images > of the censuses). > > Best, > > David Arne Sisson > * ProQuest's online products may be accessed without charge through some library's provided one has a card and is a member in good standing. The Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library provides access to a whole host of such subscription services including the Encyclopedia Britannica and ProQuest data bases. David Rorer