What's Happening with Genealogically Oriented Publications?

As digitized books, newspapers, journals, and magazines became available online, there was a lot of speculation about the demise of paper publications. Despite claims to the contrary, genealogy has never been an overwhelming popular topic but the number of genealogy specific publications is still extensive. This brings me to PERSI or the Periodical Source Index which is the largest subject index to genealogy and local history periodical articles in the world. Created by the staff of the Allen County Public Library Foundation and the ACPL’s Genealogy Center. PERSI has about 2.7 million entries by surname and location organized in a 16 volume set covering from 1847 to 1985. Fortunately, you can also search the Periodical Source Index on Findmypast.com. The index list of results is free to the public.

But what about the journals and books? Well, if you want to find genealogical books and journals, you should use WorldCat.org.

So let's suppose that you wanted a list of genealogy journals and magazines. Just do a Google search in Google Books. A free app called Zotero.org will let you collect a bibliography on any topic or subject. There are several YouTube videos online that show how to use this invaluable app. Here is a list of a few of the genealogy journals produced by Zotero from a Google Book search. By the way, these journals and magazines are valuable even if they are no longer in print. You can also find copies of some of them online in digital format. 

Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (Washington. D.C. Journal of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society. Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society., 1988.

Genealogical Journal of Jefferson County, New York. Family Tree, 1998.

Hispanic Genealogical Journal. Hispanic Genealogical Society of Houston, 2006.

Ancestry Inc. Ancestry Magazine. Ancestry Inc, 2002.

Journal of Genealogy. Anderson Publishing Company, 1976.

National Genealogical Society. “National Genealogical Quarterly (NGSQ).” Accessed July 13, 2020. https://www.ngsgenealogy.org/ngsq/.

New York Genealogical & Biographical Society. “NYG&B Record.” Accessed July 13, 2020. https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/online-records/collection/nygb-record.

The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .)

The Genealogical Magazine: A Journal of Family History, Heraldry, and Pedigrees. Elliot Stock, 1900.

American Society of Genealogists. “The Genealogist.” Accessed July 13, 2020. https://fasg.org/the-genealogist/.

The New England Historical & Genealogical Register and Antiquarian Journal. S.G. Drake, 1873.

Toledot: The Journal of Jewish Genealogy. Toledot Press, 1981.

Of course, there are whole libraries of books about genealogy and genealogical research not counting all the contents of all the archives and record repositories in the world. You will never run out of things to learn about genealogy.