Red Star Collections on FamilySearch Record Search

Like many other researchers, I have struggled to determine what New or Updated Collections are added to FamilySearch Record Search every month.

FamilySearch sends out helpful emails to me from time to time, and they have long lists of collections that are being indexed or are completed, but the lists don't always match what shows up on the Record Search list of collections each month. It's nice to know what's in the pipeline, but I really want to know what is now available for me to use.

In his post Hide and Seek with FamilySearch Record Search on the excellent Genealogy's Star blog, James Tanner tried to correlate the latest list from FamilySearch with what was actually on the Record Search site. His conclusion was that:

"It means I can not tell hide nor hair of the announcements coming out about new records being added to the Beta FamilySearch or Record Search or whatever. In some cases I cannot find the records, in other cases the descriptions in the announcement do not correspond to what is in the collections. Just as a suggestion, why not make a list, as they go along, of all of the records added and subtracted and just let the users see the running list?"

That matched my experience, and feelings, exactly! What we need is a list that tells us what is now available that wasn't available before.

So, as an occasional service to all of my readers, I'm going to go through the FamilySearch Record Search list every so often and list the collections with the Red Star that denotes a new or updated collection. Then, all of us can compare the lists from time to time and determine what has been recently added. I will stop doing this when FamilySearch makes a list of these collections themselves and passes it to those who are interested.

On 21 September, there are 457 collections on the FamilySearch Record Search list. The new and updated collections, as denoted by a Red Star, are:

* Prince Edward Island Baptism Card Index, 1721-1885 (browse images only)
* Prince Edward Island Death Card Index, 1721-1905 (browse images only)
* Prince Edward Island Marriage Registers, 1832-1888 (browse images only)
* Mexico, Catholic Church Records (browse images only)
* California, San Francisco Area Funeral Home Records, 1835-1931 (last updated 15 September 2010)

* Civil War Pension Cards (90% complete, last updated 18 September 2010)
* Freedman's Bureau Marriages, 1815-1869 (last updated 31 August 2010)
* Illinois, Probate Records, 1819-1970 (browse images only)
* New York, King's County Estate Files, 1866-1923 (last updated 10 September 2010)
* Rhode Island State Census, 1925 (last updated 10 September 2010)

* South Carolina, Civil War Confederate Service Records, 1861-1865 (last updated 16 September 2010)
* South Dakota State Census, 1945 (48% complete, last updated 31 August 2010)
* United States Census, 1910 (61% complete, last updated 12 September 2010)
* United States, Navy Widow's Certificates, 1861-1910 (last updated 16 September 2010)
* United States, Revolutionary War Compiled Service Records, 1775-1783 (last updated 16 September 2010)

* Czech Republic, Northern Moravia, Opava Archive Record Books, 1571-1905 (browse images only)
* Czech Republic, Southern Bohemia, Trebon Archive Church Books, 1650-1900 (browse images only)
* Germany, Baden, Church Book Duplicates, 1810-1869 (2% complete, last updated 16 September 2010)
* Italy, Napoli Province Municipal Records, 1809-1936 (18% complete, last updated 31 August 2010)
* Spain, Municipal Records (browse images only)

* Central America, Colonial Census Records (browse images only)
* Argentina, Catholic Church Records (1% complete, last updated 9 September 2010)
* Brazil, Catholic Church Records (browse images only)
* Dominican Republic Civil Registration (browse images only)
* Jamaica, Civil Birth Registration (18% complete, last updated 15 September 2010)

* Nicaragua, Managua, Civil Registration, 1879-2007 (53% complete, last updated 31 August 2010)
* Chinese Genealogies (browse images only)
* New Zealand, Immigration Passenger Lists, 1871-1915 (17% complete, last updated 31 August 2010)

There are 28 Red Star collections on the list today, all added or updated since 31 August 2010.

There is no indication as to how complete the "browse images only" collections are - the percentage is not given. These collections are usually organized by political division (e.g., state, province or county), or by alphabetical surnames, so it may be difficult for FamilySearch to come up with a record count.

In the 1910 U.S. Census, they are adding records state-by-state - but they don't list the states with currently available data.

Are Collections being deleted from FamilySearch Record Search and transferred to the FamilySearch Beta collection list? I can't tell, and am too lazy to make the comparison! The FamilySearch collection list currently has 455 entries (if someone added them up right -not me!). Obviously, there are some collections on Record Search that are not yet on Beta.

Will this list be helpful to anyone? One great use of a list such as this is to put it in genealogy society newsletters so that society members are kept up-to-date on new collections available for online searching. If society newsletter editors want to use my list, please do so - you have my permission as long as you refer to this blog post.