The March/April 2010 issue will be the final issue of Ancestry magazine. For a variety of reasons, Ancestry.com has decided to discontinue their popular magazine. As they state on their website, "Over the last few years, we have found that with the expanded accessibility of terrific family history content published online at Ancestry.com we can reach a larger and broader audience than the limited distribution of a print publication."

What does this mean for the Prairie History Room (PHR)? Even with the demise of Ancestry magazine, PHR still carries a number of high-quality genealogy magazines for you to look at and even borrow. This list includes Family Chronicle and Internet Genealogy, but also more local content such as the SGS Bulletin (print version). If you know of any new genealogy magazines and feel that PHR should carry them, please contact us with your suggestion.

Ancestry.com is offering a number of free one-hour online classes on the following topics:

June 16, 1:00 P.M. EDT: Getting Started on Ancestry.com. New? We can help. Attend this free, one-hour online class to start your journey running. Click here to register.

June 18, 8:30 P.M. EDT: The Canadian Historical Censuses, 1851–1916. Come join our Canadian research specialists as they walk you through the history of the Canadian census. They’ll provide searching tips and information about each census year: 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1906, 1911 and 1916. Click here to register.

June 24, 8:00 P.M. EDT: Using MyCanvas to Make Descendant Family History Books and Posters. Make a lasting impression at this year’s family reunion with a descendant-based family tree poster or book. Click here to register.

Just this past week, Ancestry.ca, Canada’s leading family history website, launched online the indexed and fully searchable Border Crossings: From U.S. to Canada, 1908-1935, which contains more than 1.6 million names from border crossing documents captured at almost 200 entry points in 13 Canadian provinces and U.S. states, including:

* Alberta
* British Columbia
* Manitoba
* Ontario
* New Brunswick
* Nova Scotia
* Quebec
* Saskatchewan
* Yukon
* Maine, USA
* Massachusetts, USA
* New York, USA
* Vermont, USA

Researchers will be able to search for relatives online by first and/or last name, date and port of arrival, date and place of birth, gender and also by keyword.

Of course, every time Ancestry adds new resources to its website, Regina Public Library's subscription to Ancestry Library Edition is also updated. The cost to use our database is absolutely FREE so long as researchers have an updated Regina Public Library card. For more information about the database or to book a computer terminal, please contact Prairie History Room at 777-6011 or by email.

The following new resources have been added to Ancestry Library Edition database in the past month:

* Irish Canadian Emigration Records, 1823-1849
* London, England, Births and Baptisms, 1834-1906
* London, England, Deaths and Burials, 1834-1934
* London, England, Marriage Licences, 1521-1869
* London, England, Poor Law Records, 1840-1938
* U.K., City and County Directories, 1600s-1900s

Note: This database is only accessible in-house at Central Library. Users simply need to have an updated library card to unlock the computer terminals. For more information about accessing the Ancestry Library Edition database, please contact the Prairie History Room at 777-6011 or by email.

One of the most popular questions we hear these days in Prairie History is when our order of the 1916 Prairie Census Reels are coming in. While we are still waiting for the reels' arrival, one of our patrons pointed out this terrific news release from yesterday:

Ancestry.ca, Canada’s leading family history website, officially launched online the 1916 Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, which contains 1.7 million names and more than 38,000 images of original Census pages in an indexed and fully searchable format. From 1906 to 1956, a separate Census was taken for the Prairie provinces five years after every national Census, providing a more complete picture of Canada’s west at this time.

Naturally, every time Ancestry adds new resources to its website, the Library's version, Ancestry Library Edition, is also updated. The cost to use our database is absolutely FREE so long as researchers have an updated Regina Public Library card. Researchers will also be happy to know that Prairie History Room has also added two additional computer terminals with free access to all of our online resources in our research room.

For more information about the database or to book a computer terminal, please contact Prairie History Room at 777-6011 or by email.

Last week, Ancestry.ca announced that their website has launched the fully indexed Canadian Civil Servants Lists of Canada, 1872-1900, which features more than 78,000 records of those employed in various departments of the Canadian Government.

These records offer personal individual information such as birth date, age, date of first appointment, years at post, promotion to present rank, creed or religion and nationality of origin. The index include individuals employed in:

* Department of Agriculture
* Department of Customs
* Department of Finance
* Department of the House of Commons
* Department of Indian Affairs
* Department of Inland Revenue
* Department of the Interior
* Department of Justice
* Department of Marine and Fisheries
* Department of Militia and Defense
* Department of Public Printing and Stationary
* Department of Public Works
* Department of Railways and Canals
* Department of the Secretary of State
* Governor General’s Secretary’s Office
* Mounted Police Force
* Office of the Auditor General
* Office of the High Commissioner for Canada
* Post Office Department
* Privy Council Office
* Senate of Canada

Please note that the website does NOT provide researchers with the complete personnel file of the person(s) they are researching.

Of course, savvy library members with updated library cards know that the Central Library provides free access to the Ancestry Library Edition database, which includes all of the Canadian records from Ancestry.ca. For more information about accessing the Ancestry Library Edition database, please contact the Prairie History Room at 777-6011 or by email.

Ancestry.ca, Canada's leading online family history website, and Familysearch, one of the world's largest repositories of genealogical resources and affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are joining forces to provide better online access to pre-existing Canadian Census returns.

As part of the agreement, FamilySearch will deliver images and indexes to Ancestry.ca for censuses from 1861, 1871, 1881 and 1916 Censuses to launch online in 2009. In return, Ancestry.ca will provide images and indexes to FamilySearch for the 1851, 1891, 1901 and 1906 Censuses.

Prairie History's Staff Note: According to the press release, Ancestry.ca will be providing access to the 1916 Prairie census returns that was released this past summer. This is terrific news if the digital images and index will be ready next year as there is significant delays right now in getting the microfilms from Library and Archives Canada. Please remember to the check our blog on a regular basis as we will announce when either the microfilm reels come in or when the 1916 database goes live in our Ancestry Library Edition database.

The news that many of you have been eagerly awaiting to hear about as the Canadian passenger lists from 1865 to 1935 have been finally indexed! Many savvy researchers know that these microfilmed lists have already digitized and made freely available on the Canadian Genealogy Centre's website. Unfortunately, researchers could only search by names for those ancestors who arrived in 1925 to 1935. For those who arrived earlier than 1925, researchers had to know either an approximate year of arrival, port of departure, port of arrival or name of the ship to get any results from the online database.

Well, the days of hoping and praying that someone would index the 1865 to 1925 passenger lists are finally over. In an agreement with Library and Archives Canada, Ancestry.ca has finally launched the fully searchable Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935. This collection includes passenger lists from all the major ports of arrival including Halifax, Saint John, North Sydney, Quebec City, Montreal, Vancouver, Victoria and even east coast ports in the US where many arrived before proceeding directly to Canada overland. Users can now search for their ancestors by typing in the name and download, save or print the original record.

Sounds great but what if you do not have a personal subscription to Ancestry.ca? Not to worry. The Canadian Passenger Lists collection is available through the Regina Public Library's database subscription to Ancestry Library Edition database, which is only available at Central Library and only requires an updated library card to unlock the computers. For more information about access to this database, please phone 777-6011 or email us.

The most comprehensive collection of historical London records, covering 500 years of the city’s history, from the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) and Guildhall Library Manuscripts, will finally be available online for the first time. As the City of London’s official partner, Ancestry will be responsible for providing global access to these records, including parish records, school records, electoral registers, wills, lists of workhouse labourers from the Poor Law ledgers and a comprehensive list of those granted ‘Freedom of the City’.

The first records will launch on Ancestry.co.uk in early 2009, with the following prioritised for launch in the coming year:

* Parish records – records from more than 10,000 Greater London parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials dating from the 1530s to the 20th Century

* Poor Law documents - relating to the administration of poor relief, including workhouse registers from 1834 onwards

* London school admissions – records from 843 individual London schools dating from the early Victorian times through to 1911, providing admission and personal details for millions of London students

Note: The Prairie History Room subscribes to the Ancestry Library Edition (ALE) database, which is an enhanced version of the Ancestry.co.uk website. This means that when these records are finally made available on the website, you can also access these records on our database from any computer at Central Library. All you need is an updated RPL card. For more information about how to access our database and its contents, please contact us.

Ancestry.com has performed a major update to the site's built-in search engine and has planned a free online web seminar ("webinar") that will demonstrate the new search features.

Geared toward intermediate and advanced researchers, the webinar will take place on Wednesday, July 30, at 8:30 pm Eastern Daylight Time.

Anyone can register to attend the webinar by visiting this link The webinar is open to everyone; you do not have to be a member of Ancestry.com to register for or attend the webinar.