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The Family History Library

The Family History Library was founded over 100 years ago in 1894 to gather genealogical records and help members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with their family history research.  And of course one of the first questions I get asked about the library is, “do you have to be a member of the church to use it?” And the answer is absolutely not.  It is open to the public and free of charge.  In fact it’s estimated that almost 2000 people visit the library in Salt Lake City every day.

But of course, a trip to Salt Lake City may not be in the cards for you any time soon.  But that’s no problem.  Because the library catalog is online and it’s materials are as close as one of the Over 4,500 family history centers operate in more than 100 countries!

Records Collection:

So what types of records can you find at the library.  Pretty much any type of genealogy records you can think of.   Such as:

• Church registers of christenings, marriages and burials
• Civil Registrations (also known as Vital Records)
• Censuses
• Military records
• Wills and Probate
• Land and property records
• Court documents
• Guild records
• Family histories
• And many many more

But of course all these records are of little use if you don’t know how to find them.  Thankfully that is very easy to do from the comfort of your own home on your computer. 

How to Search the Family History Catalog:

1.  Go to the Family Search website at www.familysearch.org
2.  From the navigation bar click the LIBRARY tab
3.  Select LIBRARY CATALOG from the drop down a menu
4.  This takes you to the Library catalog search page
5.  Click on the button for the type of search you want to do:
Place, Surname, Keyword, Title, Microfilm or Microfiche Number, Author, Subject, Call Number

VIDEO: Search Demonstration
https://fch.ldschurch.org/WWSupport/Courses/FHLExport/FHLCCourse/Lesson2/Place%20Search_DEM/Place%20Search_DEM.htm

SEARCH EXAMPLE:
1.  Click the PLACE button
2.  Search fields: PLACE (mandatory field) and PART OF (optional field.)
3.  Type in the town and county, or county and country, etc.
4.  Click SEARCH
5.  Takes you to the Results List
6.  Pick from the results list.
7.  Click the link to the Topic that you want
8.  Takes you to the Topics details page listing all the items within that topic.
9.  Click on the Title of the records you want and you’ll be taken to the Title details page. 
10. Click VIEW FILM NOTES button in the upper right corner.

JURISDICTION:
Every place in the world has different levels of jurisdictions.  In the U.S. people live in a city, located within a county, within one of the 50 states state, within the country of the United States.   So if I wanted to locate information about the place where my husband’s LARSON relatives lived, I would type the city name in the PLACE field, the city name would be WINTHROP, and in the PART OF field I would type the name of the County, which would be Sibley. 

PLACE SEARCH TIP:
When searching for records in a place your ancestors lived in, be sure to look in each level of jurisdiction; records are created and maintained by each jurisdiction level, and pertinent information to your search could be in any of the levels.  The town, county, or state.  While many vital records are kept at the county level, town histories are only going to be found at the city level, and so on. 

PLACE SEARCH HANDOUT:  https://fch.ldschurch.org/WWSupport/Courses/FHLExport/FHLCCourse/Lesson2/Placestepbystep.pdf

SURNAME SEARCH:
1.  Start at Search Page
2.  Click the SURNAME button
3.  Type in your family surname and click SEARCH
4.  You’ll get a Surname Search results page
5.  Most are of the results you’ll find here are family histories known as compiled works. 
6.  Click on the desired item and it will take you to the Title Details page.
7.  This will look like the results we got for our Place search.  

This basic search process can be applied to all eight types of searches.

TRUNCATION SEARCH TIP:
You don’t need to know all of a book title, place name or keyword in order to search the FHL.  Begin by just typing the first few letters of a word, and the computer will find all variations of letters to the right of what you type.  Truncation is particularly helpful if you know only part of a word or name, or it you are not sure of the spelling.  

SURNAME SEARCH TIP:
Search for alternative spellings.  Use the Truncation feature.   For common surnames, don’t use the Surname search.  Instead do a KEYWORD search and add a keyword with your surname to narrow down the results.  For example if you only want to see records for the surname Larson in the state of Minnesota you would do a Keyword search typing in LARSON, leave a space and then type MINNESOTA. 

TITLE SEARCH TIP:
If you don’t know the order of the words in a title of a book it’s no problem.  Just leave a single space between words and you’ll get results on those words no matter what order they appear in.

AUTHOR SEARCH TIP:
Remember, authors aren’t just individual people.   Government agencies for example also publish books and records.  To search for records by a government, church, business, or other institution, type the institution’s name in the Surname or Corporate name field.

BOOK CALL NUMBER TIP:
Call Numbers of books and numbers for microfilm or microfiche, are NOT interchangeable.  If both a microfilm and a physical book are available for a topic, you must use the call number listed if you want to locate the book, and the microfilm number for microfilm.  And keep in mind that you have to enter call numbers exactly as they’re listed, using case-sensitive letters. Type upper and lowercase letters exactly as they would appear in the catalog.  So if you hear about a book and you want to see if the library has a copy, you would enter the exactly as you find it in your Call Number Search.  Call Numbers are usually printed on two or more lines on the binding label of the book; type the first line, a space, and then the second line.

VISITING THE LIBRARY IN PERSON:
The Family History Library
35 North West Temple Street
Salt Lake City, Utah. 
Public phone number:  801-240-2584  or  866-406-1830 
E-mail: Click here to send us an e-mail at fhl@familysearch.org

INTERVIEW

Don Anderson, is the Director of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.  In this role, he has the responsibility for the FamilySearch Family History Library as well as FamilySearch worldwide support. In his role for FamilySearch, Don has traveled to more than 27 countries on five continents to ensure that services are available to those around the world who are searching for their ancestors. I recently had an opportunity to sit down and talk with Don in Mesa Arizona at a recent genealogy conference.

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