If you haven't heard, the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah will no longer rent microfilm as of September 7th. The reason why is exciting. I remember around the year 2000 hearing that the Family History Library was starting to digitize their 2.4 million rolls microfilm, but that it would take decades to accomplish the task. With advances in technology the process was accelerated and they currently have more than 1.5 million rolls digitized and will finish the project by 2020. No more paying for films, waiting for six weeks to get them, only to be disappointed when the person you have anticipated finding is no where to be found!
You can access these records a couple of ways. You can search the Family History Library Catalog
You can also search Historical Records by location. As you scroll through the available collections, the first section includes collections which have been indexed and the second section includes collections for which there are not yet indexes. Any item with a camera icon has images available.
Because of contractual restrictions, there are some microfilm that will not be made available digitally. Some other collections are only available to be viewed from a Family History Center. This was the case for some Indiana land records I wanted to look at this week so I made my first trip to the Family History Center in Richland.
This FHC, located in its own building, is the home for the resource collection of the Tri-City Genealogical Society. Our collection includes over 2,900 books, 450 periodicals, 200 CDs, and thousands of microfilm and microfiche. I highly recommend taking time to check the Family History Library Catalog and TCGS's own catalogs for what is available. You may be surprised at what you can find for research throughout the United States and some international localities. Here are a few highlights that stood out to me during my visit.
Maps are extremely helpful in genealogical research and there are a great collection here. Each state has a large map on a board that shows all the counties, roads, towns, waterways, etc.
This Illustrated Historical Atlas of Indiana includes maps of each county with townships and section numbers, making it easy for me to map out the location of an ancestor's land with the description I obtain from land records. I spend a lot of time researching in Indiana and this was a helpful find for me.
The reference desk holds a large number of standard genealogical reference books.
This is a portion of the book stacks at the library. Notice all the yellow bindings? Those are all periodicals for various states and localities. You can access the periodical catalog here. In a later posting I will talk about PERSI (Periodical Source Index), which can help you find your ancestors in these publications without needing to look at every page.
Family History Centers also have access to subscription sites such as ancestry.com, myheritage.com, findmypast.com, newspaperarchive.com, fold3.com, and several others. Click here for the list of available sites (last updated July 2016).
So, if you haven't used a Family History Center recently, you might want to visit one to see what you can find that will help you with your research. Share in the comments below any resources you have been glad to find at the Family History Center in Richland.
Richland FHC (1314 Goethals, a brick building behind the LDS Church on Jadwin Ave.)
Phone: 509-946-6637
Monday: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Tuesday: 9:00 am - 9:00 pm
Wednesday: 9:00 am - 9:00 pm
Thursday: 9:00 am - 9:00 pm
Friday: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Saturday: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
There are a few additional Family History Centers in the area, which have computers, printers, scanners, with internet access:
Richland (895 Gage Boulevard, in LDS church)
Tuesday: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Wednesday: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Thursday: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
Saturday: 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Pasco (2004 North 24th Ave., in LDS church)
Tuesday: 10:00 am - 12:00 pm, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Wednesday: 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Thursday: 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Very nice post on the Family History Center
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