Genealogy Bank is now Online

As predicted in the March 19, 2006, newsletter, Genealogy Bank has gone online with millions of documents of genealogical interest. In fact, the site just "went live" this morning.

The new online database will contain images of millions of documents of genealogical interest. Ninety-nine percent of these documents have never been available before in electronic format, and perhaps 50% of the documents have not even been available on microfilm. Many have never been available in any format other than the original paper documents, if you could find them. Now these millions of documents will be available to everyone in a new online database that will contain the equivalent of 100,000 books, fully indexed and searchable by every word. You will be able to see images of the original documents on your computer screen.

This site is expected to expand significantly within the next few years. According the Genealogy Bank announcement, the new web site is launching with the following databases in place today:

Historical Newspapers    1690 - 1977

Quickly find names and keywords in millions of articles, obituaries, marriage notices, birth announcements, and other items published in more than 500,000 issues of over 1,300 historical U.S. newspapers. New content added monthly!

Historical Books   1652 - 1900

A unique source that provides you with complete text of more than 17,000 books, pamphlets, and printed items, including: genealogies, biographies, funeral sermons, local histories, cards, charts, and more - all published in the U.S. prior to 1900. New content added monthly!

Historical Documents   1789 - 1930

Find military records, casualty lists, Revolutionary and Civil War pension requests, widow's claims, orphan petitions, land grants, and much more, including all of the American State Papers (1789-1838) and all genealogical content carefully selected from the U.S. Serial Set (1817-1930). More than 81,000 reports, lists and documents. New content added monthly!

America's Obituaries    1977 to current

Obituaries contain helpful information such as names, dates, places of birth, death, marriage, and family information. Over 22 million obituaries make this the most complete collection from the 20th and 21st centuries - includes more than 800 U.S. newspapers. New content added daily!

Social Security Death Index   1937 to current

Search more than 78 million death records and get genealogical information crucial to your family research.

The following are "works in progress" that will be added soon:

• Dallas (TX) Morning News, 1885-1977
• Philadelphia (PA) Inquirer 1860-1918
• San Jose (CA) Mercury 1884-1914
• Richmond (VA) Enquirer 1804-1838
• ...and much more.

You can conduct searches free of charge. A search will tell you that it found possible matches and will even display a tiny "thumbnail" image of the original document. However, to view the full document, you must purchase a subscription. NewsBank is available at an introductory price of $19.95/month. That price will give you access to all the records on the site.

NewsBank is a company that is well-known to historians and librarians but not as well known within the genealogy community. For several years NewsBank has provided subscribing libraries with online databases containing the following:

• Early American Newspaper Collection (scanned images of old American newspapers)
• America's Obituaries
• U.S. & World Newspaper Collections
• American State Papers
• Early American Imprints (1639-1819)
• The U.S. Congressional Serial Set

The new service is built with many of the same resources but with new ones added. Also, for the first time, NewsBank is offering these services directly to consumers.

I'll repeat this one more time as it is important: the new database contains scanned images of original documents, the most accurate sources available. The service is completely indexed and searchable by every word. You can quickly find documents and then view images of the original documents on your own computer screen.

You can find more information or even sign up for the Genealogy Bank service at http://www.genealogybank.com.

Comments

[Jason Presley]

Tom Kemp's influence at work. It's great to see him turning NewsBank into a major content player in the genealogy world so quickly after leaving Godfrey. Now we can hope Godfrey gets a great deal on a subscription to the full package!

[John Shepherd]

The cost at $19.95 per month is a bit steep. They will need to make a LOT more information available to make it worth that.

[wingnuttwo]

Perhaps some would think that the $19.95 per month is high but for me, what I just found in these records today was well worth the price for one month. I found 4 major articles on the name I was researching just today in the first attempt. I will only keep it till my 30 days are up and then cancel out. Then every so often, perhaps 5 or 6 months, I'll sign up again for a month as I'm sure that new information will be available as new records are added. I was able to put the articles in pdf form and print them out.I live in a small town and to drive around to where these records would be available, certainly my time and cost would far exceed the $19.95. Just my opinion at this time.

[Dino (All Dino, All the Time)]

Dick,

I'd be hard pressed to classify something as a 'prediction' when it is based on 'an advance copy of the announcement and then discussed it with the manager in charge of this new genealogy database.' Why not say 'As reported' instead of 'As predicted'?

[Peter Piper]

You said in your review, "Ninety-nine percent of these documents have never been available before in electronic format..."

The Historical Newspaper Collection alone is available from several other web sites....including the Boston Public Library and the Antiquarian Society.

My opinion, nothing really new here and at $20 a month - I don't think it'll get many subscribers.

[Ryan M.]

Makes me feel good to have started Ancestrybank.com a year + ago to have Genealogybank.com come out today. Now people will say that I got my name from them since they will be much bigger. At least mine is innovative!

[MLS in NV]

I just checked this site out. I have not found anything different than what I can remotely get through my library's database subscriptions. Same newspapers, same time frame, same everything.

As far as I can tell, the difference is about 3 library webpages plus logging in with my library card number & PIN. That's not worth $20/month for me to subscribe to this directly.

[Joy Rich]

"The Historical Newspaper Collection alone is available from several other web sites....including the Boston Public Library and the Antiquarian Society."

Libraries get the Historical Newspapers collection through Readex, the division of NewsBank that handles American historical collections. GenealogyBank is also a product of NewsBank.

[krumbar]

I see the newspaper for which I work on the list. That newspaper is adamant about not allowing reprints, etc. Yes, the newspaper has been in business that long -- since before 1900 in fact. We are the oldest business in our county. So far as I know, although death information is public record, the format in which a newspaper publishes that information is copyrighted. How did GenealogyBank go about getting permission to use the information from the newspaper? Or do they even bother?

[Dave]

Krumbar,

Copyright was never meant to protect works through the end of eternity. The current rules, heavily influenced by companies such as your employer, leave everything published prior to 1923 in the public domain.

[Doug]

Some of the content at Genealogy Bank can be found elsewhere free of charge. The American State Papers and the US Serial Set are available at the "American Memory" website of the Library of Congress. Anyone who is a member of NEHGS or NYGBS (etc., etc.) already have access to other Gen. Bank databases through HeritageQuest. Ancestry.com members and/or HeritageQuest accessees already have many of the books available to them, as well as the Civil War and Revolutionary War pensions. This isn't the grand site it's made out to be. If you want one-stop shopping, that's fine, but it's hardly unique or special in its content for the most part. And to charge for things that can be found elsewhere free is unethical. That's an important thing for people to know.

[Dick Eastman]

---> Anyone who is a member of NEHGS or NYGBS (etc., etc.) already have access to other Gen. Bank databases through HeritageQuest.

That was true once but is not true today. HeritageQuest Online is no longer available remotely through any genealogy societies. You can read my earlier article about that at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2006/06/proquest_termin.html.

Some societies do offer access if you visit the society's library in person, however.

- Dick Eastman