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Ancestry Magazine
7/1/2000 - Archive
| July/August 2000 |
Vol. 18 No. 4 |
An Insider's Guide to the Family History Library
The Family History Library is probably every family historian’s most desired destination—one of the first places they would go if they won a popular TV game show. I can hear it now:
Host: "What are you going to do if you win the jackpot?"
Contestant: "I’m going to Salt Lake City to find my family!"
For people researching their family, the Family History Library (FHL) is bigger and better than Disneyland. In fact, for most family historians, there is simply no better place to accomplish the most possible research at one time. That’s why scores of genealogical societies and private groups sponsor annual trips to the five-story building in Salt Lake City. That’s also why the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) is holding its annual conference in Salt Lake City in September 2000.
Of course, it is not the building but its contents that attract an average of 2,400 visitors daily. A significant number of researchers come from out of town to learn if the Library’s records can solve their research problems. Most visitors come away with significant success, and many immediately begin planning their return trip, be it next month, next season, or next year.
An exploration of this institution, including some insights most visitors don’t know about, will help all researchers better understand this world-famous library.
History
The history of the Library dates back to 1894 when the Genealogical Society of Utah was founded by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) who were gathering and preserving various records to help people trace their ancestry. Shortly after its founding, the society raised enough funds from membership dues and research fees to open a library. In 1938, the society began preserving records on microfilm. The society’s library continued to grow as books and some microfilm were added.
While the Library is maintained as a resource to LDS Church members, everyone is welcome to visit the Library and use its collections and services at no charge. In 1964, a system of branch libraries, now called Family History Centers, was established to give more people access to the Library’s resources.
In 1987 the name was changed to the Family History Library, but it is actually part of a larger organization, the LDS Church’s Family and Church History Department, which directs all of the Church’s genealogical activities.
Research Collections
Of course the strength of the Library is its collection, gathered over the past hundred years. Over those years, the Library has collected virtually every kind of genealogical record in every format, from books and manuscripts, to microfilm and fiche, and on to electronic databases. While it doesn’t have a copy of every record in the world, no other collection comes close to its size or scope.
Not surprisingly, the collection has grown so large that there is not enough space at the Library for all of the material. In addition to the family history books, many lesser-used microfilms are housed outside the Library. Generally these are some of the less common records for countries where research interest is minimal. However, even some lesser-used U.S. films are stored off-site. Some of these films are stored in the circulation facility that serves family history centers and can be retrieved in a few hours or by the next day. Some films do not have circulation copies, and copies must be made from the master copy stored elsewhere. This may take a few days, so if your time is limited, check in advance regarding the availability of films for non-English-speaking countries.
Microform Collections
The strength of the collection is more than two million rolls of microfilmed records and over 700,000 microfiche. That’s at least 7 million written books worth of information. This includes records kept by governments, churches, other institutions, and individuals. These records include copies of church registers, census records, passenger lists, military records, land records, and probate records. Most of the records date from about 1650 to about 1920. While the Library does not have a record of everyone who has ever lived, it does have a substantial collection of records for many areas of the world, particularly countries from which North Americans have ancestors.
North America. The Library’s largest collection covers the United States. With about 650,000 microfilm rolls and upward of 200,000 microfiche, every state is well-represented. Nearly 150,000 of those rolls are federal records (including all available census and military films from the National Archives, and most filmed immigration records). The entire collection represents more than 2,500 archives, county courthouses, and other repositories.
The 38,000 rolls for Canada include almost all Quebec church records, many civil records from Ontario and other provinces, as well as provincial and federal census records through 1901. Many books from both countries, long out of print, are also available on microfilm and/or microfiche. Most of these films and fiche are on the second floor, while thousands of books are on the Library’s main floor.
Europe. With more than half a million rolls of microfilm, the European films form the second largest collection at the Library. They include church and civil records for many areas of Germany and France (over 135,000 rolls each). Virtually all major genealogical records are available for the Netherlands (95,000 rolls), Belgium (73,000 rolls), Hungary (15,000 rolls), and Luxembourg. The fastest growth in the European collection is for the countries of Italy, Poland, and Spain. The Library also has many Austrian films and has recently been adding films from Croatia, Russia, Slovakia, and the Ukraine. You’ll find the most useful of these films in the basement (floor B-1).
Scandinavia. The Library’s collection (also on B-1) of more than 200,000 microfilms for Denmark (97,000 rolls), Sweden (83,000 rolls), Norway (12,000 rolls), and Finland (15,000 rolls) provides virtually comprehensive coverage for these countries.
Britain. The more than 165,000 microfilm and 240,000 fiche for Great Britain include a virtually complete collection of Scottish church records, as well as a very large collection of church and other records from England. All extant census records, from 1841 through 1891, as well as an every-name index to the 1881 census, are part of the collection. These records, housed on floor B-2, also include the civil registration indexes for all countries of Great Britain, from their beginning to the mid-to-late twentieth century. The Library also has significant collections for Ireland and Wales, with many records also available for Australia and New Zealand.
Other Areas. Other countries for which the Library has comprehensive collections include Mexico (150,000 rolls), Chile (8,000 rolls), the Philippines (75,000 rolls), many Pacific islands, and many smaller countries. There are partial collections for South Africa and many other countries. For China, Japan, and Korea the Library has a growing collection of family histories.
Books
The Library has more than a quarter of a million volumes of books, including published family histories, local histories, indexes, periodicals, cemetery inscriptions, and other research aids, such as gazetteers and atlases. More than half of this collection is also available on microfilm or microfiche. In addition, thousands of the Library’s microfilms are copies of books no longer available in print. These are often obscure books not easily found in other libraries, and which have not been in print for decades.
For U.S. families, the Library has 60,000 family histories in book form, with another 30,000 to 40,000 on microfilm only. Due to space limitations, all family histories in book form are no longer stored in the Library. They are housed at the FamilySearch Center, a block from the Library.
Electronic Media
A separate "Automated Resource Center" on the main floor houses the Library’s electronic materials, including FamilySearchTM, with Ancestral File and the International Genealogical Index. In addition to a few audio and video cassettes, the Center has about 400 CD-ROMs from dozens of publishers.
The Family History Library Catalog
The Family History Library Catalog lists and describes each of the microfilms, microfiche, books, compact discs, manuscripts, and all other records in the Library. It is the key to understanding the growing collection of the Library and to having success in your research. Each year almost 100 million new pages of historical documents are preserved and cataloged (about 50,000 rolls). The catalog is available on the Internet, on compact disc, and on microfiche. Each format is updated at different intervals, with the Internet version the most current. With the catalog, researchers can find records by author, title, subject, locality, keyword, or surname. A new version of the CD-ROM catalog, similar to the Internet version, was recently released through the LDS Internet site and is available for five dollars, plus shipping.
Family History Library
The Family History Library is located at 35 N. West Temple Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84150 (e-mail: fhl@ldschurch.org). The Library is open Mondays from 7:30 A.M. until 5 P.M. and Tuesday through Saturday from 7:30 A.M. until 10 P.M. The Library is closed on New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Pioneer Day (a state holiday on or near July 24th), Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day.
The five floors provide a variety of services and records. Each of the four public floors includes FamilySearchTM computer terminals, the library catalog, microfiche viewers, photocopy machines, a classroom, a library attendant area, lockers for day use, a staff area, and a reference desk with hundreds of reference books, along with volunteers and professional staff available to answer your questions.
The third floor is devoted to cataloging, acquisitions, collection development, administration, and other departments. If you want to donate materials to the Library, or arrange for patron microfilming, there is a desk near the elevators for assistance.
FamilySearch Center
Realizing that many visitors come to the Library with little training in family history research (e.g., tourists, visiting relatives, and other novices), the Library developed the FamilySearch Center to introduce people to the excitement of discovering their ancestors. The center is located one block east of the Library, directly through Temple Square. It occupies part of the main floor and all of the fourth floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.
With trained volunteers and more than a hundred FamilySearch machines, guests can expect excellent service. The fourth floor includes the 1920 census, 8 million paper family group sheets, and 70,000 family history books.
Library Services
There are no guided tours of the Family History Library. However, Library volunteers provide a short orientation for persons new to the Library. Orientation classes can be provided for a group of any size. Please contact the Library at least three months in advance (preferably one year) to receive the Guidelines for Visiting Groups and to help the staff prepare for your visit.
While the staff cannot do research for patrons, they will help all Library users understand how to use the facilities and collections. For example, the staff will answer brief reference questions, help locate a town, or determine what records are available for a specific locality.
The Library has open stacks so patrons can access virtually any of the materials. Copies of most microfilms are immediately available in the Library and can be used at any of the more than six hundred microfilm readers and seventy-five microfiche readers. Patrons can photocopy selected portions of books, films, and microfiche inexpensively. Paper copies cost five cents per page, while film or fiche copies cost twenty cents per page.
Preparing to Visit the Library
Your success in using the Library depends on your preparation. To begin, gather all the background information you can beforehand, and familiarize yourself with the records you want to search. Where possible, visit a local family history center before you visit the Library.
Of course, documents are written in the language of the country where they were created. While you may not need to know the foreign language to use the records, it would be useful to learn a few key words. Most original records are handwritten and in chronological order. Usually they are not indexed, so allow plenty of time to search these records carefully.
The Library is a popular place. It is most crowded in the summer months. Spring and autumn seem to see the most groups coming to visit, while the last two weeks of December always see the fewest persons in the Library.
More Information
You may want to read more about the Library when preparing for a visit. A brief guide is Carlyle Parker’s Going to Salt Lake City to Do Family History Research, 2nd edition (Turlock, Ca.: Marietta Publishing Co., 1993).
An excellent history of the Library and the Family History Department is James B. Allen, Jessie L. Embry, and Kahlile B. Mehr’s, Hearts Turned to the Fathers: A History of the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1894-1994 (Provo, Utah: BYU Studies, 1995).
If you are still working on understanding the wide variety of records at the Library, consider Ancestry’s two major guidebooks. The Source (1997 revised edition, edited by Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking) provides detailed treatment of original records (census, military, immigration, etc.) used in United States research and collected by the Library. For a detailed discussion of the myriad printed books and similar sources at the Family History Library and elsewhere, see Kory L. Meyerink’s 1998 volume, Printed Sources: A Guide to Published Genealogical Records.
Kory L. Meyerink, MLS, AG, is the editor and primary author of Printed Sources: A Guide to Published Genealogical Records. He is the former publications coordinator for the Family History Library and past president of the Utah Genealogical Association.
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