Millions of Philadelphia’s historical documents will become available online through a new multi-year agreement with Ancestry.com, writes Chelsea R. Cox for Technical.ly.
The world’s largest for-profit genealogy company will digitize and index Philadelphia’s historical records, including birth, death, marriage, and property documents from the late 1600s through about 1950. By using high-speed scanning and AI-powered handwriting recognition this will make searching these records much easier.
According to James Leonard, Philadelphia’s Records Commissioner, the agreement mirrors a model that has already been adopted by over 60 other state and local archives. He noted that the city will retain ownership of the digitized records and oversight of the partnership, which starts with a 10-year term and can be extended at the city’s discretion.
“Ancestry.com receives only a license to host images on their platform during the agreement term,” said Leonard. “The city receives and retains permanent copies of all digitized images, ensuring we maintain the digitized collection regardless of the partnership’s future.”
Paid Ancestry.com subscribers will be able to search nearly 20 million new records from the city’s history. Those without a subscription can visit one of over 50 Free Library branches for no-cost access to Ancestry.
Read more about the changes coming for Philadelphians who want to look into their ancestry in Technical.ly.
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