PERSI. The acronym may strike you as funny, but this index is actually one of many valuable resources on Ancestry. com that often goes undervalued and underused.

SO WHAT IS PERSI?
Every year, hundreds of genealogy-related articles are published in periodicals, magazines, and newsletters. They contain how-to articles, local and family histories, transcriptions from cemeteries, and more. This information is invaluable to researchers but often reaches a limited audience.

More than a decade ago, the Allen County Public Library, located in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, took on the enormous task of indexing all of this material. Their goal was to create a subject index for every genealogical periodical published, past and present. Currently, the index covers nearly 6,000 periodicals dating back to the 1800s.

WHY SHOULD I USE PERSI?
Today, PERSI is recognized as a fabulous resource for genealogists. Instead of reinventing the wheel, use it to find research that others have already done for you. You may find new record sources, local history information, or even research on someone in your family tree.

HOW DO I FIND PERSI?
There are several ways to access PERSI on Ancestry.com. One common way is the following:

1. Go to Ancestry. com.
2. Select the Search tab.
3. Find the “Browse Records” section on the right-hand side of the page.
4. Find the “Stories and Publications” heading under the “Browse Records” section.
5. Click the “Newspapers and Periodicals” link.

You are now on the “Search Newspaper and Periodical Records” page (see figure 1). It is divided into several sections. One of the sections is the “Featured Newspaper and Periodical Collections.” Underneath, click the “Periodical Source Index” link.

Figure 1: The "Search Newspaper and Periodical Records" page. The PERiodical Source Index (PERSI), is located under "Featured Newspaper and Periodical Collections."

You are now on the PERSI homepage (see figure 2). It contains a search box with a drop-down list labeled “Choose a Section.” In this box you can choose to search the articles in PERSI by “Surname,” “U.S. Locality,” “Canada Locality,” “Foreign Locality,” or “Methodology.” If you select “Methodology,” a drop-down list appears allowing you to search for how-to articles on research methodologies for “Biographies,” “Cemeteries,” the “Census,” and more.

Figure 2: The PERSI homepage and search box. You can search by "Surname," "U.S. Locality," "Canada Locality," "Foreign Locality," or "Methodology."

FOR EXAMPLE
As an example, I have been doing research on the Jones family in my line. They immigrated to the U.S. from Wales in about 1872 and eventually settled in Scranton, Lackawanna, Pennsylvania. The last record I have of my third great-grandfather is the 1880 census for Scranton.

I would like to learn more about Scranton, its history, and possible record sources for the area. In the “Choose a Section” drop-down list, I select “U.S. Locality.” In the “U.S. State” drop-down list that appears I select “ Pennsylvania.” In the “County” field I type “ Lackawanna.” 152 results are returned.

Browsing through the list I see several articles I am interested in. One is titled “Cemeteries in county.” Another is “County record locations” (see figure 3). It is located in a periodical titled Heritage. I click the link for “Heritage” and am taken to a record for the periodical itself, listing the PERSI code for the item, libraries where the periodical is located, and the name of the original publisher of the periodical (see figure 4).

Figure 3: PERSI search results--County record locations.

Figure 4: Record for "Heritage" periodical in PERSI. This record appears when I click the link for "Heritage" in Figure 3. Note the "PERSI Code" is "Pane," and only one library is listed in "Repositories," places where the periodical is located: the Allen County Public Library.

ORDERING AN ARTICLE FROM PERSI
PERSI is only an index to articles in genealogy periodicals; it does not contain the full text of the article. To order a copy of the article you can do one of three things:

• Order a copy from the publisher. On each periodical record, you will see an address for the company that first published the periodical. You can write to the publisher and ask for a copy of the article. Make sure to include the article title, the periodical title, the volume, issue number, and date of publication.
• Order a copy from a local library. The periodical record has a list of libraries or “repositories” where the periodical is located. If the library is close, you can visit in person. If not, take the information you obtained about the article, including title, periodical, volume, and issue, to your local library and request that they get a copy of the article through interlibrary loan.
• Order a copy from the Allen County Public Library. The Allen County Public Library, the creator of PERSI, has copies of all the periodicals in its index. You can order a copy of any article from this library.

ORDERING AN ARTICLE FROM THE ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
Ordering a copy of an article from the Allen County Public Library costs $7.50 plus $0.20 per page photocopied.

To order photocopies of an article, record the article title, periodical title, volume, and dates of publication. In addition, record the PERSI Code. This is a special number that the Allen County Public Library uses to organize its publications.

Return to the main “PERiodical Source Index” search page (see figure 2). The address for the Allen County Public Library is located at the bottom of the page, under the “Where to go from here” section. The address is:

Historical Genealogy Department
Research Center
Allen County Public Library
P.O. Box 2270
Ft. Wayne, IN 46801-2270

Click the “Click here for order form” link below the address (see figure 5) and you will be taken to a printable order form (see figure 6). Record the information for the articles you want to photocopy (up to six articles at one time) and mail in your request. It takes six to eight weeks to receive your copy.

Figure 5: "Click here for order form" link.

Figure 6: Printable order form for PERSI.

THE END RESULTS
Six to eight weeks! In a time when you can search the census online and find the same name in five minutes it would have taken hours to find scrolling through microfilm a decade ago, that can seem like a long time.

However, PERSI is still an excellent resource to consult. It unlocks the door to literally a century of material (about 1.7 million articles currently) that would otherwise be unavailable. And ordering an article about Scranton is certainly cheaper and faster than traveling there myself. So while I wait for the day when all information is a click away, I enjoy the access that PERSI gives me and recite this mantra: Sometimes the best things in life are worth waiting for.

Jana Lloyd is editor of the Ancestry Monthly newsletter. She can be reached at AMUeditor@ancestry.com but cannot assist with personal research questions.