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Saturday, September 12, 2009

New Records on FamilySearch Record Search Pilot tied to Wiki FamilySearch

In a recent post citing FamilySearch on 11 September 2009, Dick Eastman listed a number of updated collections in FamilySearch's Record Search Pilot. But the most interesting thing about the new files is not in the article. The new files listed are:

Collection Name Indexed Records Digital Images Comments
Brazil, Pernambuco Civil Registration, 1889–2003 1,639,242 Updated collection with new searchable images.
Canada, British Columbia birth registrations, 1854–1903 38,340 39,973 New index and image collection. The marriages and death projects for British Columbia are currently being keyed in FamilySearch Indexing
Czech Republic, Northern Moravia, Opava Archive 120,412 Updated collection with new searchable images.
Hungary Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kis-Kun, Budapest Civil Registration, 1895–1972 520,274 New image browse only collection.
Mexico, Chihuahua Catholic Church Records, 1622–1958 322,386 New image browse only collection.
United States, Arkansas County Marriages, 1837–1957 234,570 83,094 Updated collection. Added 15 additional counties.
United States, Illinois Cook County Marriages, 1871–1920 291,351 291,228 Updated collection with new images and index content.
United States, New York State Census, 1892 2,714,193 19,634 New index and image collection.
United States, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Marriage Indexes, 1885–1951 1,830,468 25,846 New index and image collection.

The interesting thing about these new collections can be found from clicking on each collection from the browse collections menu. For example, clicking on the Arkansas County Marriages, 1837-1957 brings up a search screen for the collection. Down at the bottom of the page, there is another link "About this Collection." Previously, this link brought up sort-of a generic description of the collection. Now, the link ties into the Wiki FamilySearch page for that particular collection. This is a major advantage. The Wiki site has more links and a lot more explanation about the collections. It also means that all of the collections in the Record Search are now in the Wiki, making that resource priceless in finding the scanned images you need. So now, go directly to the Wiki FamilySearch, not to the Record Search site, if you want to actually find some useful information. This is a "Wow, guess what I found" kind of event.

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