Ancestry is a for-profit commercial online repository, and provider of genealogy products and services, based out of Lehi, Utah. It bills itself as the “largest provider of family history and personal DNA testing” in the world, with “more than 2 million paying subscribers across all its family history websites and approximately 1.4 million DNA samples in the AncestryDNA database." (Source: Ancestry.com)
The company dates its founding as 1984, but the Ancestry.com website did not launch until 1996.
Ancestry seeks out, preserves, and provides access to collections from all over the world. Their U.S. collection includes all states and the federal district, representing all eras of U.S. history.
Ancestry comes in two versions: the individual consumer subscription version (Ancestry.com), and Ancestry Library Edition, which is licensed to libraries and other institutions, usually for use by multiple users at a time. We will explore both versions on the next set of lesson pages.
Ancestry.com is the commercial version of Ancestry, which is purchased by individual subscribers.
Ancestry.com provides several different individual subscription packages , each providing access to a different range of collections. Each individual paid subscriber has their own account and member profile. A user must be logged in (authenticated) to view the collections that are restricted to paid subscribers.
Ancestry allows individuals to create free accounts, even without a paid subscription. These free account members cannot access most of the historical records collections, but they can use and take advantage of the other services available to registered users, such as:
It is important to note that if someone was once a paid member and saved a bunch of records to their family tree, but later let the paid subscription lapse, the family tree and information in that tree remain in tact. However that free accountholder will no longer be able to access any of the subscription-based historical records that were previously attached to their tree. If they reactivate their paid subscription, the attached historical records become available again if those records fall within the current paid subscription package.
Ancestry.com allows free access to a number of their collections (not a lot, but a good selection). These free collections are made available through the World Archives Project (Links to an external site.), or selected partner institutions or projects whose terms require providing free access. A paid subscription is not required to access or view these collections, which include a mix of indexes and actual digitized records.
These free collections can be searched for free without authenticating, however one must register for and authenticate with a free account in order to view those free records. Someone with a free account can attach those free records to their family tree, and continue to view those free records from within their family tree. These free collections can be found here (Links to an external site.).
Members can create as many online trees as they want. Unlike FamilySearch, Ancestry trees are not shared by default, and are not public to all authenticated members by default. An ancestry member can make any of their trees:
Ancestry members can invite other Ancestry members to have edit access and work together on a tree.
Ancestry Library Edition (ALE) is licensed and offered through ProQuest, a library vendor that licenses many of the research databases to which the Pollak Library subscribes. The Pollak Library, however, does not have an ALE subscription.
ALE is usually only available from inside libraries that subscribe to this service. Check with the libraries for which you have accounts and library cards to determine if they subscribe to ALE.
Covid Pandemic Update: Due to the Covid pandemic restricting in-person patron access to public libraries, ProQuest and Ancestry have been providing temporary remote access to Ancestry Library Edition for subscribing public libraries who have the necessary authentication measures in place. This agreement is currently in place through June 30, 2021, and ProQuest and Ancestry will continue to reevaluate this date. Check with any public libraries for which you have a library card to determine if they provide temporary remote access.
There are some differences between ALE and the regular Ancestry.com.
FamilySearch.org is the largest genealogy organization in the world, and is run by the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter-day Saints.
FamilySearch provides FREE access to the more than 3.5 billion names in its database and the more than 35 million historic records it publishes each month. It also provides patron access to over 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The following libraries, located in southern California, provide access to key genealogy research databases. Most public libraries restrict database access to their library cardholders (usually available for free), whether for remote access to databases or for use in-house on their public computers. Be sure to check each library's website for information on obtaining a library card. It is definitely worth obtaining a library card to use these valuable resources!
Covid Pandemic Update: Due to the Covid pandemic restricting in-person patron access to public libraries, ProQuest and Ancestry have been providing temporary remote access to Ancestry Library Edition for subscribing public libraries who have the necessary authentication measures in place. This agreement is currently in place through June 30, 2021, and ProQuest and Ancestry will continue to reevaluate this date. Check with any public libraries for which you have a library card to determine if they provide temporary remote access.