The Periodical Source Index (PERSI) is no longer on the FindMyPast.com website. This is major news. PERSI is the world’s most comprehensive subject index to genealogical magazine articles. It is compiled by staff of the Genealogy Center at Allen County Public Library (ACPL), Fort Wayne, Indiana. ACPL has chosen to offer it on their own website, making it free for all users at the ACPL Genealogy Center.
Anyone can search by surname, by state or country (using postal abbreviations), by research techniques (by type of record), and by title keyword. State and country can be broken down by locality. The results will show the title of each article, the title of the journal, the volume and issue number, the year published, contact information for the publisher, and the location on the shelf at ACPL. This is an excellent source for obscure topics and places in the fields of genealogy and local history.
I count 1,486 index entries for Prince William County, including 252 for military records, 205 for the Civil War, 147 for history, 132 for surnames, 79 for court records, 53 for land records, and 22 for African American records, among many other topics. RELIC has most of those articles.
ACPL is set up to provide copies of any article in their collection. There is a service charge of $7.50 for each group of up to six articles. In addition, they will bill you 20 cents per photocopy. These are quite reasonable charges for the services they offer.
