How to Find the Collections for
Your Area on Ancestry
Posted by Amy Johnson Crow on July 6, 2016 in Ancestry.com Site
There’s something about browsing that can help spark inspiration for our research.
. .
It’s like when you walk through the stacks at your favorite library when you have a general idea of what you want, but nothing specific comes to mind.
Suddenly, you see it – the book that makes you stop and say, “I need to look at that.” You can do the same thing with the collections on Ancestry.
Discovering the collections that are available in the areas where your ancestor lived not only gives you inspiration on what to explore, but also potentially opens up more records.
Collections that are not yet indexed, but are only browseable images, won’t appear when you do a search. Finding that collection is your first step to finding more records.
There are two ways to discover what collections exist for a specific area (state or country): the Card Catalog and the Place pages. . .
There’s something about browsing that can help spark inspiration for our research.
. .
It’s like when you walk through the stacks at your favorite library when you have a general idea of what you want, but nothing specific comes to mind.
Suddenly, you see it – the book that makes you stop and say, “I need to look at that.” You can do the same thing with the collections on Ancestry.
Discovering the collections that are available in the areas where your ancestor lived not only gives you inspiration on what to explore, but also potentially opens up more records.
Collections that are not yet indexed, but are only browseable images, won’t appear when you do a search. Finding that collection is your first step to finding more records.
There are two ways to discover what collections exist for a specific area (state or country): the Card Catalog and the Place pages. . .
Using the Card Catalog
You can access the Card Catalog by clicking on Search at the top of a page and then select Card Catalog.
On the left-hand side of the page, you’ll see a field for “Title” and a field for “Keyword.” When a collection covers a specific area, like Ohio Probate Records, the name of the location is in the collection’s title. That makes the title field a great way to find quickly the collections for an area.
Let’s say your research has taken you to Kentucky. Type Kentucky in the Title field in the Card Catalog then click the Search button. You’ll get a list of all of the collections that have Kentucky in the title.
You can access the Card Catalog by clicking on Search at the top of a page and then select Card Catalog.
On the left-hand side of the page, you’ll see a field for “Title” and a field for “Keyword.” When a collection covers a specific area, like Ohio Probate Records, the name of the location is in the collection’s title. That makes the title field a great way to find quickly the collections for an area.
Let’s say your research has taken you to Kentucky. Type Kentucky in the Title field in the Card Catalog then click the Search button. You’ll get a list of all of the collections that have Kentucky in the title.
You can narrow those results if you’d like.
If you’re interested in vital records collections for Kentucky, click the “Birth, Marriage, and Death” filter on the left-hand side of the page.
Now you’ll have a list of all of the birth, marriage, and death collections that have Kentucky in their title.
Place Pages
Another way you can discover Ancestry collections for a particular location is with the Place pages.
On the Search page, you might have noticed a map at the bottom of the page. (The map defaults to the country your account is located in.
For those in the United States, the map is the U.S. If you want to see the map for a different country, just click the name of the country/region above the map.)
If you’re interested in vital records collections for Kentucky, click the “Birth, Marriage, and Death” filter on the left-hand side of the page.
Now you’ll have a list of all of the birth, marriage, and death collections that have Kentucky in their title.
Place Pages
Another way you can discover Ancestry collections for a particular location is with the Place pages.
On the Search page, you might have noticed a map at the bottom of the page. (The map defaults to the country your account is located in.
For those in the United States, the map is the U.S. If you want to see the map for a different country, just click the name of the country/region above the map.)
Want to see what collections Ancestry has for Illinois?
Click Illinois on the map or click the name in the list below the map.
You’ll get the Illinois Place page.
Click Illinois on the map or click the name in the list below the map.
You’ll get the Illinois Place page.
On the right-hand side of the page, you might see a section “Narrow by region.” In the U.S., those are counties within that state.
Click on the name of a county to see the collections that are specific to that county.
Conclusion
Sometimes seeing a collection we hadn’t seen before will spark ideas for more research.
Exploring collections by location also opens up the opportunity to research in image-only collections.
Whether you use the Card Catalog or the Place pages, make “finding collections for this location” part of your search routine.
Click on the name of a county to see the collections that are specific to that county.
Conclusion
Sometimes seeing a collection we hadn’t seen before will spark ideas for more research.
Exploring collections by location also opens up the opportunity to research in image-only collections.
Whether you use the Card Catalog or the Place pages, make “finding collections for this location” part of your search routine.
