Ancestry Magazine

Changes at Ancestry Magazine

Longtime readers of Ancestry magazine will immediately notice that this issue looks a bit different. And the new look is just the tip of the iceberg. Our subscription base continues to soar, many new and wonderful products and services are coming within reach, and we at Ancestry Incorporated are thrilled to be on the cutting edge. As Heraclitus said, “Nothing endures but change,” and we think you’re going to love some of the changes we have planned.

First, I’d like to introduce Alyssa Hickman. Alyssa, who has skillfully worked behind the scenes as associate editor of this magazine for the past year, has recently taken the reins as managing editor. While coming into the publishing field by a rather unusual route (she earned a B.A. in theatre arts and a certificate as a licensed massage therapist), her experience in editing books such as Irish Records, Your Scottish Ancestry, and Turbo Genealogy has definitely fired her interest in this field. She hopes that somewhere along the line we are going to give her enough time to pursue her own English and Scottish forebears. Alyssa is excited about her new position and about having the opportunity to get to know our readers.

If you have access to the Internet, I think you’ll want to put Ancestry Home Town (www.ancestry.com) on your list of favorite Web sites. Talk about changes! With a new database posted each weekday, no wonder 20,000 visitors are stopping at the site daily. A new addition to our Web site is Ancestry Times, a weekly electronic newsletter featuring columns from three of the most recognizable names in online genealogy. Dick Eastman is the author of Your Roots: Total Genealogy Planning on Your Computer and Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter, a weekly e-mail publication serving more than 11,000 subscribers worldwide. Dick is also a popular lecturer and online personality, and enjoys his “day job” as the genealogy forum system operator for Compuserve. In her weekly “Shaking Your Family Tree” column, Myra Vanderpool Gormley reaches more than a million potential readers through the Los Angeles Times syndicate. She is also the resident expert in Prodigy’s online genealogy forum, and coauthors a weekly e-mail newsletter called Missing Links. And last but not least, Ancestry Times is pleased to welcome DearMYRTLE (her nom de plume), who writes a column that is read by more than 45,000 visitors to America Online’s genealogy forum.

More exciting news is the announcement that Ancestry has acquired the rights to publish the PERiodical Source Index (PERSI) on CD-ROM. Check out the Comment section for more information.

Don’t miss your next copy of Ancestry magazine to find out what other exciting changes we have in store for you!

Loretto (Lou) Szucs
Executive Editor