In previous posts, we explored the importance of museum publications. We looked at digitized books websites and museum websites to find publications. To end our discussion of publications, let's concentrate on periodical indexes.
Most genealogists are familiar with PERSI (the Periodical Source Index).
PERSI is a periodical index compiled by the Allen CountyPublic Library in Indiana. With 2.7 million articles in thousands of different periodicals, PERSI is the largest index of historical and genealogical articles in the world. This index covers articles written in English and French since 1800, mostly published in North America.
For those researching at Allen County Public Library, the
PERSI Index is available to search on site. However, for those wishing to access
the index online, you can access it through the subscription website Findmypast.
PERSI is a subject index. You can search PERSI by locality,
surname, or another keyword. Because articles are indexed by the title of the
article, not every word in the article, it’s
important to note that those names mentioned in an article will not appear in
the index. For this reason, it is a good idea to conduct multiple searches including
surname and locality.
Now, there is almost always an exception to every rule and
now is a good time to mention the exception to searching PERSI only by subject,
location, or keyword. Findmypast is actively digitizing articles indexed in
PERSI which means that those digitized articles are every word searchable.
However, that is a very small number of articles that are available in the
index. So while you could try searching on your ancestor’s name and may have
some success, it’s best to not just limit your search in the hopes of a match
within the article.
Findmypast has provided some tips for researching PERSI, I encourage you to read this article to get the most out of your search.
Now you may be thinking "why are you talking about PERSI, that's for genealogy publications?" A search on the keyword "museum" resulted in over 73,000 results including publications by the Peabody Essex Museum, Journal of the Manx Museum, and the Hampton Mariner Museums. So don't make assumptions. Try PERSI to see what they have for the museum where your female ancestor lived.
Now I would be remiss in not mentioning other periodical indexes. I would also suggest searching:
Don't forget to try other indexes that might exist at your nearby academic library or larger public library. You might be surprised by what you find.
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