Free Genealogy Resources at Your Nearest FamilySearch Center

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the Mormons), has gathered a huge amount of genealogical information.  Their Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah is the largest such facility in the world, with millions of books and  microfilmed records, as well as many on microfiche.  There is no fee for searching any of the records available in the library.  They are completely FREE for anyone to search. 

Of course, not everyone lives near Salt Lake City, or can afford the time and money to travel there. For most of us, we can use a nearby "catalog office" that allows us to access most of the same information that is in Salt Lake City.

There is no charge to visit a local Family History Center. However, you will be asked to pay for any photocopies you make (usually about $.05 per page) and you are asked to pay for the postage for the microfilms you rent from the main library in Salt Lake City (typically $5.50 in the United States for a 30-day rental).

Many local Family History Centers have computer scanners so you can load up your thumb drive with images and take them home to view on your own computer. Most local centers also have a collection of the most frequently used microforms and sometimes they also have a large collection of genealogy books. Family History Centers are completely free for your use, as are their computers. 

Both the Family History Library and the satellite Family History Centers also offer free access to gigantic databases and to a number of research web sites such as Ancestry and HeritageQuest Online.

The local Family History Centers can provide most of the resources of the huge Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Of course, a trip to a local center will probably be much more cost-effective than a trip to Salt Lake City! Many of the centers are located in Mormon churches. However, you will never be given any information about the Mormon religion nor will you be approached by Mormon missionaries, unless you ask. The local Centers welcome visitors of all faiths. In fact, history has shown that the local centers are more popular amongst non-Mormons than amongst those who belong to that faith.

You can find your nearest local Family History Center at http://www.familysearch.org/eng/Library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp.

Comments

[Larry Parker]

I visited a local Family History Center many times. Sometimes I just wanted to look for a couple of things on ancestry.com for free, and I didn't want to pay to use ancestry.com at home for a whole month just to look for a couple of things.

But the more spectacular resource was the old microfilmed records. I orded about 12 different rolls over time. Those images are not (yet) available on the internet. Maybe some day. Even though some of those microfilmed records were not only handwritten in German, but in an older style of German, (and sometimes in Latin!),I was able to make out names, months, days of the month, and years. I hit the genealogical jackpot because my two ancestors who had been the ones who had emigrated to the U.S.A. had had about two dozen of their direct ancestors all live in one little town in Baden (now Germany).

[Caryn Lowther in Homewood, Illinois]

Yes, The microfilmed records are the best FHC's have to offer. One- on-one assistance is also available, but the value of this varies according to the knowledge level of the volunteers that staff the centers. Hey, at our FHC the copy fee is $.10 for computer printouts and $.25 for copies from microfilm/microfiche. The key to what you can order is the Family History Catalog at FamilySearch.org

[Nuala Farrell-Griffin]

Finally!!! The Family Histroy Centers are the most under-utilized resource for genealogical and historical research in North America, bar none. Their vast library of microfilm is an invaulable asset to any researcher. I do primarily Irish research and it would be almost impossible without these microfilmed copies of the original manuscripts. In fact, many more records and documents are available through a local FHC than are sometimes not available to view in Ireland itself! For the price of postage, you can spend a whole month browsing through the entire church reigster, land valuations, tithe returns, maps and much more. Several published books have also been microfilmed.
One of the great things is that the Library Catalog is available on your home computer, www.familysearch.org/library. It takes a little learning curve to understand their catalog system, but well worth the effort. If one uses the "keyword" search, results are much better. I am not an adherant of their Church, but I am very grateful that the open their collection to all interested parties. I could not imagine doing Irish research without this resource. Volunteers are always on hand to direct you to the holdings and show you the computer datebases and website - Nufarr

[Lise Embley, Director - Williamsburg (VA) Family History Center]

You mention Ancestry.com and Heritage Quest as reasons to visit a FHC. Smaller FHCs will have neither because access to those sites is limited to larger FHCs. However, large and small Family History Centers have WorldVitalRecords.com, Footnote.com, GenLine.com (digitized Swedish records), 19th Century British Library Newspapers, Godfrey.com (Godfrey Memorial Library), Brady Civil War collections and more. These "premium" content sites are not widely available through local public libraries, and are a great way to explore digital content without investing in a personal subscription. At our FHC, we also help our patrons learn to use FamilySearch Record Search (and encourage them to subscribe to your newsletter or Dear Myrtle in order to stay current with what new collections are being added to Record Search).

[Margaret]

Some of this information is outdated -- Ancestry.com no longer allows the Family History Centers to have their Library Edition access; it has been over a year that this has been the case.

Postage is now $5.75, a renewal of a film is for two months for $5.50 and a second renewal at $5.50 makes the film an extended loan for an indefinite period.

Even better news is that the FHCs are allowed access to most of the material on Footnote, World Vital Records, Genline (Swedish), Heritage Quest and some other lesser sites. Footnote's city directories and city newspapers can be invaluable if your people lived in our larger urban areas -- their U.S. war material is extensive.

In addition, FHCs extended loan films may be of a nearby major city's vital records or even church films of baptisms, etc. Calling around to the numerous FHCs in suburban areas to check what their extended holdings are may allow a patron to avoid ordering films (which take 4-6 weeks to arrive).

Certain libraries have permission to order and store LDS films so that a patron need not travel to a far-distant FHC site if they are fortunate enough to live near one of these libraries.

Remember, anyone can sign up at familysearch.org to index the films that are rapidly being digitized -- when they are indexed, they are put online for everyone to search for free. Many hands make faster access!

[Marilyn]

I'm currently using my tiny local FHC to order films. The price just increased to $6.00 last month. Still a bargain! They are in the process of removing a few of their microfilm readers and replacing them with computers.

[Colleen]

I just wanted to add a comment to Margaret's comments above.

I was in Salt Lake City in March/09 to do some intensive genealogy research and was most happy to discover that Ancestry.com is once again available to researchers. Come to think of it, I was at my local FHC recently and used Ancestry there.

I know that the FHL and Ancestry were in some kind of a dispute last year, but it appears to have been resolved!

I agree that the FHC's are a very under utilized resource!

[Dick Eastman]

---> "Ancestry.com no longer allows the Family History Centers to have their Library Edition access; it has been over a year that this has been the case."

Not completely true. The Family History Centers did have their access terminated for a while. For details, see my article "Ancestry.com Terminates Free Access in Family History Centers" on March 18, 2007 at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/03/ancestrycom_ter.html

Then, that access was restored for the Family History Library and for a number of the larger Family History Centers, but not for the smaller ones. See my article, "Family History Library and Major Regional Family History Center Patrons to Receive Free Ancestry.Com Access" on December 19, 2007 at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/12/family-history.html

- Dick Eastman

[Jim Breslin]

It's useful to note that anyone interested in using a local Family History Center can go online and find where they are and what their hours are. The url is: http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/library/FHC/frameset_FHC.asp
They all list phone numbers, and it is wise to call before traveling, because the people who keep these places open are all volunteers and may not be there on a given day, even though the schedule says they will.

Regarding ancestry.com, I'm a volunteer at a very small FHC, and we don't have free access to their unlimited database. But, we do have high speed Internet, and I am a subscriber to ancestry.com on my own dime. So, I have often introduced visitors to Ancestry, and not a few of them have decided to go home and get subscriptions of their own. Thus, it never hurts to ask, and you may find someone working there who will help you out.