Ancestry Magazine

It seems that genealogists are often reluctant to explore periodicals, at least in a library setting, but the potential sources available should convince any researcher to give them a chance.

In most libraries, a perennial subject of debate is the importance of periodicals in the acquisitions budget. Their number seems ever on the increase, prompting many librarians to wonder whether the use of periodicals by library patrons—or the lack of use—justifies the increasing demand on their budgets.

In many respects, the linked fields of genealogy and local history are not immune from these considerations. And from my own observation it seems that genealogists are often reluctant to explore periodicals, at least in a library setting. The reasons vary. Some researchers may be put off by the uncertainty of periodical contents (a nicely indexed county history or a book of probate abstracts may seem more of a “sure thing”). The time it might require to examine a complete run of a journal or newsletter is another consideration for researchers.

In addressing these concerns, I would begin by affirming the importance of periodical literature in this field. While we often find that periodicals contain some of the usual “bread and butter” types of genealogical source material, such as cemetery readings and vital records, perhaps of greater importance are the more unusual materials which are published in periodicals, records that are less frequently reproduced in book format. These materials may include such things as lists of unclaimed letters in nineteenth century post offices, indexes to local enlistment and bounty files, or apprentice indenture records.

Sometimes you will find the most unexpected things. For example, a recent issue of North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal contained a list of North Carolina settlers in Monroe County, Indiana. Researchers of Monroe County might find this piece of interest, but how many would regularly peruse this journal of the “Old North State” to encounter such an article? Not many, to be sure.

Of course, the entry for a journal title in the library catalog will rarely describe the articles contained in the periodical. That is not the function of a catalog any more than it is to p rovide chapter titles in a historical work or the plot of a novel.

Even so, the use of periodicals does not have to be cumbersome or overly time-consuming, since important tools are available to assist the researcher in using them. By far the most important is the Periodical Source Index (PERSI) published by the Allen County Public Library n Fort Wayne, Indiana. This is a subject index to the genealogical and local historical periodical literature. The annual volumes began publication in 1987, indexing the subjects of recent periodical literature by “location” for local historical pieces or record transcriptions, and by “family” for pieces which are explicitly genealogical or biographical. To return to the earlier example, a researcher with an interest in Monroe County, Indiana, would quite easily learn of the North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal article in PERSI. The “places” category is concerned primarily with U.S. sources with the arrangement being first by state and thereunder by county, with a further breakdown by topical category (cemeteries, vital records, etc.) within the county. I might add that helpful and most welcome components of the periodical literature surveyed in PERSI are the state historical journals, which can often contain important articles for specific genealogical and local historical research projects, but are seldom examined by genealogists.

The important contributions of the PERSI project are further enhanced by its retrospective subject indexing of the periodical literature to 1847, the year in which the country’s first genealogical periodical, the New England Historic Genealogical Register, began publication. This ambitious undertaking plans four sets of four volumes; three of the sets are already available. The retrospective sets are organized in the same format as are the annual volumes, thereby supplying genealogists with the subject entry in the ol der—as well as the “dead”—periodical titles.

To be sure, a comprehensive survey of PERSI on any topic has become more time-consuming with the publication of the retrospective sets and the on-going annual publications; however, the time it takes to work through PERSI is a small price to pay for the subject entry it provides into hundreds of periodicals and the thousands of articles and transcriptions they contain. In brief, you have not done everything possible in trying to solve a genealogical problem if you have not touched base with PERSI.

Another similar source, which has been available since 1962, is the Genealogical Periodical Annual Index , currently published by Heritage Books. Its mission is much the same as PERSI’s, although it indexes fewer periodicals. Even so, it would be a mistake to ignore it, because its entries often contain more detail than those in PERSI, thus affording in some instances a better sense of an article’s contents.

Of course, genealogists would usually like to go beyond subject indexing (e.g., “Johnson family”) to find indexing for every name n an article or record transcription (e.g., “Johnson, Harold”). Such detailed indexing is relatively unusual; however, it does exist, and when it exists, it makes for a very important research tool.

One such tool is E.G. Swem’s much-revered Virginia Historical Index, published in 1934. In addition to providing both every-name and subject indexing for the Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Hewing’s Statutes, it also indexes (up to the year of publication) the William and Mary Quarterly and Historical (first and second series), the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, and Tyler’s Historical and Genealogical Quarterly, in addition to the lesser-known Lower Norfolk County Virginia Antiquary and the Virginia Historical Register. Given t he importance of all these sources, a master index to them all—and especially one as well done as Swem’s—has great importance for Virginia research.

A similar effort is Glenda K. Tramp’s and Michael L. Cook’s Kentucky Genealogical Index (Indianapolis, Indiana: Heritage House, 1985), which indexes Kentucky Ancestors, The Kentucky Pioneer Genealogy and Records, and the East Kentuckian.

This more detailed type of indexing may also be found in the journals themselves, usually on an annual basis in the first or last number of the year. When confronted with a formidable periodical run, a logical first step for the researcher is to look for such an index. Thus, a periodical run of ten or twenty years may become less of a chore to work through.

There is often a cumulative every—name index to several volumes of a journal. Several good examples are Barbara Walker’s index to the Journal of Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (Bowie, Maryland: Heritage, 1991) and John Frederick Dolman’s Index to the “Virginia Genealogist” Volumes 1–20, 1957–1976 (Springfield, Va.: Genealogical Books in Print, 1981)—once again, Virginia is greatly blessed! There is also Jean Warden’s index to the venerable New York Genealogical and Biographical Record for the years 1870 through 1982, which, while it does not index every name (such as names appearing in lists), is farther reaching than a general subject index. And, of course, there is the indexing to places and persons for the first fifty volumes of the New England Historical Genealogical Register.

Of course, genealogists do not need to limit their periodical use to library visits. It is easy enough to subscribe if interest in an area or a surname warrants the expense. However, the world of periodicals is a fluctuating one. As far as “family newsletters” are concerned, current information can be found in the March/April issue of Everton’s Genealogical Helper. Also important in this regard is Elizabeth Bentley’s Directory of Family Associations. As for publications issued by genealogical societies, Meyer’s Directory of Genealogical Societies in the U.S.A. and Canada, published annually, can be a great help in identifying societies of interest and their publications. Of course, the articles are often not the main draw for genealogical society quarterlies and newsletters. Often the greatest help comes through published queries and pedigree charts. Our best resource is often one another.

In summary, genealogy, like any field, is constantly expanding, changing, evolving. To keep up with new publications and research tools—as well as being exposed to the occasional methodology piece, such as this one—the researcher should keep an eye on the periodical literature. Who knows what may be found.

David Thackery is a former curator of Local and Family History at Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois.