what is the Percy index and why should you be using it for genealogical research on today's
episode of the ancestral findings podcast I'll give you what you need to know about this valuable
resource have you tried using Percy in your genealogy research if not you are missing out
on a valuable genealogical information resource Percy stands for periodical source index and it
is the largest genealogy and local history subject index on the planet it was designed and assembled
by the staff at the Allen County Public Library Foundation and genealogy center Percy is an
important even vital resource for genealogists and is widely recognized as being such what
makes Percy so special to genealogists well to start it includes an index of 11,000 periodicals
3,000 of which are no longer publishing these periodicals were all published by historical and
genealogical societies at local state national and international levels the index includes 22 subject
headings and 2.7 million surnames and locations that may pertain to your family history if you
have a particular family line that has been a stubborn brick wall to you or are just looking for
more information on the details of the lives of your ancestors you may find the answers you seek
in the Percy database it's not just genealogists who use Percy historians academics of all kinds
archeologists demographers and students from kindergarten to college all use this valuable
research resource the Percy index began as an idea in 1986 when efforts were made at indexing
both current and past issues of publications on genealogy and history and publications ranging
from 1847 to 1985 it was originally a 16 volume set though it has become much larger than that
over the decades with new additions as more periodical discoveries are made the family
history library of the Mormon Church has the original set available on microfiche they're
also used to be an annual print version of Percy which was discontinued in 1997 ancestry.com issued
CDs with the original index on it to customers for a short time but no longer does so ancestry
also used to make the index available as a digital product to its subscribers on the website but no
longer does so you could also access Percy from heritage quest online until just recently as the
site has now taken it down so how can you access Percy nowadays heritage quest online took it down
because find my past com acquired the sole rights to the electronic database outside of the Allen
County Public Library you can search percy for free on find my past and get index results however
to view any images associated with an index result not every result has an image to go with it but a
good number do you have to be a paid member of the site or buy pay-per-view credits there in order to
search percy to maximum effect it is important to understand that it is not an every name index or
even in every word index you must look up things on the index by location type of record using the
surname as a subject how-to topic there are no queries genealogical charts fiction cartoons or
poetry on Percy except once in a while you usually won't find them there you can search up to 150
characters in the index and most researchers have found your chances of finding something
pertinent to your unique search is greater the more characters you use there are some periodicals
in the index that are in foreign languages a title of an article in a four language indicates the
article is written in that language to actually search for people by name it is best to use the
optional keywords field because the index is not in every name index it is more often useful to
add a place or location along with a name when doing a search it can take some practice to get
the hang of Percy but once you do you will wonder how you ever did without it in your genealogical
research you will find things in it that are not in any vital record source no newspaper
article no census and not even any written family histories these are magazines newspapers pamphlets
booklets and other publications by societies dedicated to genealogy and/or history and they
may have been publishing long ago when people with first-hand knowledge of people and events you are
researching were available to be interviewed to tell their stories they may also have or
had access to other sources that are no longer available or available to the public people may
have contributed information to these publications that they never submitted anywhere else and that
never made its way anywhere else percy opens up a whole new wealth of genealogical material you
never knew existed and it can break down brick walls and open genealogical doors for you it is
well worth it to search the percy index for free on find my past if you find anything in the index
that looks like it might be important to your genealogical research you really should get a
membership or buy pay-per-view credits so you can get the full information from the source you may
make amazing discoveries in your family history that make it worth the small cost it also may
become one of your reliable and most used go-to genealogical research sources it is a resource
that the top professional genealogists know about and use though many amateur family historians are
not aware of its existence now you know so go out there and see what percy can find for
you among the types of articles included in the percy and sorry things like biographies cemetery
lists and other information on them census records church records court records of all
kinds deeds directories of all types histories of people houses businesses ethnic groups and
more institutional records such as orphanages poor houses and more land records maps military
records miscellaneous records naturalization information obituaries passenger lists probate
records school records tax records vital records voter records wills including indexes abstracts
and transcriptions [Music] are you concerned about your family heirlooms will your children
care as much about them as you do the next time on the ancestral findings podcast I'll show you how
to preserve them for future generations copyright by ancestral findings all rights reserved [Music]
you