Tennessee Periodicals

Most family organizations, historical societies, and genealogical societies publish magazines and newsletters. They typically focus on the records of a particular county, while a few may specialize in records of a particular ethnic group or religion.

Periodicals often include family genealogies and pedigrees, transcripts of local courthouse records, church records, family Bibles, and cemetery records.

They can also have articles on research methods; information about local records, archives, and services; and book advertisements and book reviews. You can place research advertisements or queries or requests for information about specific ancestors that can help you contact other interested researchers.

Periodical Names
Major Tennessee periodicals at the Family History Library include:

Ansearchin News. 1954–. Quarterly published by the Tennessee Genealogical Society, 9114 Davies Plantation Road, Brunswick, Tennessee 38014-1447. To view a list of these articles, visit their county index. To read digitized versions of the first 36 years of articles (Vols. 1-36), browse their archive or conduct a surname search. The Family History Library has a complete collection of the Ansearchin' News quarterly This contains abstracts of Bible, census, probate, court, and tax records from throughout the state.

East Tennessee Roots 1984–. Published quarterly. Rutledge, Tennessee: Thomas Edward Roach. This contains abstracts of Bible, cemetery, court, probate, tax, land, and vital records. (10 vols.). A subject index to these articles is available online. Surname indexes to Volumes 9 and 10 are also available online. The Family History Library has collected most issues of East Tennessee Roots.

Family Findings. 1969–. Quarterly published by the Mid-West Tennessee Genealogical Society, 841 Sanford Street, Henderson, Tennessee 38340-2006. This contains abstracts of Bible, cemetery, marriage, census, military, and probate records, pedigree charts, and family group records. Most volumes have a surname index. (42+ vols.). The Family History Library has most issues of this quarterly.

Online at Internet Archive to 1979.


 * Tables of contents for some volumes are available online, courtesy: TNGenWeb Project:
 * Volumes 1-10 (1969-1978)
 * Volumes 11-20 (1979-1988)
 * Volumes 21-24 (1989-1992)
 * Volumes 32-35 (2000-2003)
 * Many articles from this publication have been reproduced on the TNGenWeb Project website, try this specialized Google search to retrieve them.

Holston Pastfinder

The Journal of East Tennessee History: A Publication of the East Tennessee Historical Society. 1929–. Published annually by the East Tennessee Historical Society, P.O. Box 1629, Knoxville, Tennessee 37901-1629. .

Middle Tennessee Journal of Genealogy and History. 1995–. Quarterly published by the Middle Tennessee Genealogical Society, P.O Box 190625, Nashville, Tennessee 37219-0625. (23+ Vols.). To view a list of these articles, visit their online Index to Articles (1988-2005). Surname indexes are also available online for Vols. 2-22. The website also offers back issues for sale in paper and on CD. The Family History Library has a complete collection of this quarterly. This includes Bible records, genealogies, county records, “how-to” articles, and book reviews.

The Pellissippian Genealogical articles with abstracts of Tennessee records were published in the The Pellissippian (25 vols., 1980-2004), the quarterly of the Pellissippi Genealogical and Historical Society. The society has posted tables of contents for all 25 volumes on their website. Back issues are available for purchase. The Family History Library has acquired the first 20 volumes.

Tennessee Ancestors. 1985–. Published by the East Tennessee Historical Society, P.O. Box 1629, Knoxville, Tennessee 37901-1629. . This includes abstracts of church, cemetery, military, and census records; and how-to articles on research. It is indexed.

Tennessee Historical Quarterly. 1942–. Published by the Tennessee Historical Society, Ground Floor, War Memorial Building, Nashville, Tennessee 37243-0084. (Family History Library book ; films .)] This contains articles on history with indexes and book reviews.

Watauga Association of Genealogists Bulletin Genealogical articles with abstracts of Tennessee records have been published in the Watauga Association of Genealogists Bulletin (39+ vols., 1972-present), the journal of the Watauga Association of Genealogists. The organization has posted tables of contents for most volumes on their website. Back issues are available for purchase.The Family History Library has a complete collection US/CAN Books 976.897 B2w], including Margaret W. Hougland and Betty Jane Hylton's Bulletin Subject Index: The First Thirty Years, 1972-2001 (Johnson City, Tenn.: Watauga Association of Genealogists, 2002)  US/CAN Book 976.897 B2w index 1972-2001].

West Tennessee Historical Society Papers Family History Library has Volumes 1 - 16 and 30. The West Tennessee Historical Society Papers are indexed in PERiodical Source Index (PERSI) To view Table of Contents and complete articles from 1947 - 2005 see Shelby County Register of Deeds

Periodical Indexes
Some of the periodicals listed above have annual indexes in the final issue for the year. For nationwide indexes to other family history periodicals, see:


 * Periodical Source Index (PERSI). 31+ Volumes, Fort Wayne, Indiana: Allen County Public Library Foundation, 1986–.
 * Family History Library book ;
 * Family History Library Fiche ;
 * Family History Library Book ;
 * Family History Library Fiche.

This indexes over 1.1 million articles in over 5,000 English-language and French Canadian family history periodicals. For further instructions, see the Periodical Source Index Resource Guide.

For easier-to-use, more complete, computer editions of the index, see:

''Periodical Source Index CD-ROM. Orem, Utah: Ancestry and the Allen County Public Library Foundation'', 1997. (Family History Library compact disc no. 61.) This disc does not circulate to Family History Centers. It merges all 31+ volumes into one index.

This database is available for a subscription fee at Ancestry ($).

For more family history periodicals, use the Locality Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under:

TENNESSEE - PERIODICALS

TENNESSEE - GENEALOGY - PERIODICALS

TENNESSEE - SOCIETIES - PERIODICALS

TENNESSEE, [COUNTY] - PERIODICALS

TENNESSEE, [COUNTY] - GENEALOGY - PERIODICALS