Question: It seems like Ancestry is adding new collections all the time. How do I find out when records that are important to me have been added to the site?

Answer: There are a few ways to keep up-to-date with the newest collections on Ancestry. Here are the easiest:

E-mails and Newsletters
Ancestry usually sends e-mails announcing important new collections or site updates.

The Ancestry.com Monthly Update is our monthly newsletter, and it has a “What’s New” section that contains a list of most of the newest databases to come online in the past month.

To check which e-mail announcements and newsletters you are signed up for, click “My Accounts,” on the homepage, then “Newsletter and Marketing Email Preferences.” Place a checkmark next to the communications you would like to receive. (Note: the Now newsletter is no longer in existence.)

“What’s Happening at Ancestry” Section and “What’s New” Page
When you are logged in to Ancestry, the recently revised homepage contains a “What’s Happening at Ancestry” section. It contains a list of about five to eight of the newest collections added to Ancestry and is constantly being updated.

To view more new record collections, click the “View all new records” link in the bottom of that section. This will take you to a list of the recently added or updated collections on the site, with the date when they were posted.

Click the “recent website additions” link at the bottom of the “Browse Records” box on the right side of this page and you’ll be taken to the “What’s New” page. Although this page is somewhat buried, it can be a useful place to view some of the larger, more popular collections added to Ancestry in recent months. It does not contain all the new collections on Ancestry—usually it contains only those with the broadest appeal or the most records.  
  
Clicking the “View all new records” link on the homepage takes you to a list of the recently added or updated collections on Ancestry—with the date they were posted. 

Search the Card Catalog
If you’re interested in knowing about collections added further back than the last couple of months you might want to try the Card Catalog—an easy way of searching all the collections on the site for those most relevant to you. (You wouldn’t want to look at a list of all the collections Ancestry has because there are thousands—way too many to scroll through or be of use to you.)

To get to the Card Catalog, click the “Search” tab on the main toolbar; then, click “Go to the Card Catalog” in the “Featured” box on the left side of the page. Enter information into the “Title” or “Keyword” fields; plus, use the “Filter” to narrow your search down to certain record types (census, immigration, vital, etc.), date ranges, or locations.

For instance, if I wanted to know what collections Ancestry had for Tennessee marriage records in the 19th century I would type “Tennessee” in the “Title” field, click “Birth, Marriage, and Death” in the “Filter by Collection” section, and “1800s” in the “Filter by Date” section. (Note: I would probably also try the same search with “Tennessee” in the “Keywords” field. The title search would show me only collections that had the word Tennessee in the title; the keyword search would also show me collections that didn’t have Tennessee in the title, but still covered the Tennessee area—such as a collection of 19th century marriage records for southern families.)

 
The Card Catalog is a quick way to search all the collections on Ancestry for the ones that are relevant to you.

A Tip—Quick Links
If you want to visit the What’s New page frequently, or the page for a collection you are particularly interested in, you can save it to your “Quick Links” section on the homepage.

To do this, either click the “Add to Quick Links” link in the upper right-hand corner of any page on Ancestry; or, copy the URL of the page you want to save, go to the homepage, click “Add a Link” in the “My Quick Links” box, and paste in the URL. You can now access this page by clicking its link in the My Quick Links box on your homepage at any time.

Jana Lloyd is editor of the Ancestry Monthly newsletter. She can be reached at AMUeditor@ancestry.com but cannot assist with personal research questions.