ANN ARBOR, Mich., August 30, 2006 - ProQuest Information and Learning announces the launch of ProQuest Obituaries™, offering access to obituaries and death notices from the full runs of major national newspapers dating back to 1851.  ProQuest Obituaries enables users to easily find ancestors and historical figures, and to trace their family histories through a database of more than 10 million names. To familiarize users with the database’s rich content, ProQuest developed “In Passing”, a free weekly e-newsletter that highlights particularly interesting passages from ProQuest Obituaries, the latest addition to the ProQuest Genealogy Center.  Librarian subscribers will be able to use this newsletter to promote the rich rewards of genealogy research during October, which is Family History Month.

"The launch of ProQuest Obituaries furthers our commitment to providing the critical resources necessary to track personal histories," said David “Skip” Prichard, President of ProQuest Information and Learning.  "ProQuest Obituaries joins the ProQuest Genealogy Center, our suite of resources tailored to specifically meet the needs of the library community and their patrons."

Now available to libraries everywhere, ProQuest Obituaries offers content unmatched by any other resource, and is suitable for all levels of researchers.   Historical obituaries and death notices represent some of the most valuable content available to genealogists, as often they are the only existing biographical sketch devoted to an individual and can provide valuable clues like proper full name; maiden name; spousal information; names of parents, siblings, and children; occupation, religion; cause of death; and more.

The e-newsletter, “In Passing”, provides anyone interested in genealogy, history, or the extraordinary stories of everyday people a sample of the historical and genealogical finds available in ProQuest Obituaries.   “In Passing” subscribers will learn about the casualties of the 1919 Boston molasses flood; the “Spanish flu” pandemic that killed more than 50 million people worldwide; and the young seamstresses who died in New York’s Triangle shirtwaist factory fire and the subsequent laws created that mark their heritage today. This free opt-in e-newsletter will be issued weekly during September, October, November, and December; to sign up please visit www.proquest.com/mailinglist.

In addition to the launch of ProQuest Obituaries, other ProQuest Genealogy Center resources continue to grow. ProQuest made Freedman’s Bank Records, a leading resource for African-American genealogical research, available through HeritageQuest Online. Ancestry Library Edition, the largest online collection of genealogical records, also made numerous content updates including:

• U.S. Census Collection ─ Now completed.  Contains original full-text images for the U.S. Federal Census 1790-1930, with all-new, every-name indexes for each decade.
• Canadian Census Collection ─ New for 2006.  Censuses of Canada from 1901, 1906 and 1911.  The collection now contains more than 40 million names linked to original images.
• United Kingdom and Ireland Collection ─ New for 2006.    The collection contains name indexes for 1861-1901 Census, linked to original images.

 

About ProQuest
ProQuest creates specialized information resources and technologies that propel successful research, discovery, and lifelong learning. A global leader in serving libraries of all types, ProQuest offers the expertise of such respected brands as Chadwyck-Healey™, UMI®, SIRS®, and eLibrary®. With Serials Solutions®, Ulrich's™, RefWorks®, COS™, Dialog® and now Bowker® part of the ProQuest brand family, the company supports the breadth of the information community with innovative discovery solutions that power the business of books and the best in research experience.

More than a content provider or aggregator, ProQuest is an information partner, creating indispensable research solutions that connect people and information. Through innovative, user-centered discovery technology, ProQuest offers billions of pages of global content that includes historical newspapers, dissertations, and uniquely relevant resources for researchers of any age and sophistication—including content not likely to be digitized by others. Inspired by its customers and their end users, ProQuest is working toward a future that blends information accessibility with community to further enhance learning and encourage lifelong enrichment.

For more information, visit www.proquest.com or the ProQuest parent company website, www.cig.com.

About ProQuest Genealogy Center

ProQuest has searched through its digital and microform archives to select the most valuable resources for the ProQuest Genealogy Center.  This growing suite of products provides the solutions you need to best meet your patrons’ research requirements.  Customizable for public libraries of any size and demographic makeup, it includes two of the most powerful databases available – HeritageQuest Online^™ and Ancestry^® Library Edition – plus many other complementary resources that offer all-important detail and context from newspapers, periodicals, local histories, biographies, vital records, military records, and much more.