Introduction to the FamilySearch Catalog

What Is the FamilySearch Catalog?
The FamilySearch Catalog (formerly Family History Library Catalog) describes genealogical resources held by FamilySearch.org, the Family History Library, and selected FamilySearch Centers.

The Catalog is a guide to birth, marriage, and death records; census records; church registers; books; periodicals; family histories and many other records that contain genealogical information. These records may be searchable online, on microfiche or microfilm, in a book or in a computer file.

Some entries in the FamilySearch Catalog include images of records. When an image is available in the catalog, a camera icon will appear to the right of the microfilm note associated with that image. A description of the images is found at [https://familysearch.org/blog/en/news-flash-digitized-microfilm-drawer-computer/ News Flash! Digitized Microfilm: From the Drawer to Your Computer]

Where Is the Catalog Found?
The FamilySearch Catalog is available on the Internet at the FamilySearch.org splash page under the Search tab. Previous versions of the catalog were released on compact disc and on microfiche, but those versions are significantly outdated, and do not list films acquired after the publication date on the disc or microfiche.

Also, the FamilySearch Catalog has been made available via OCLC WorldCat since 2014. OCLC WorldCat is an online union catalog of over 2 billion titles at 72,000 libraries in 172 countries and territories. Although it is the world’s largest bibliographic database for materials held around the world, OCLC WorldCat does not list sources housed in repositories outside their consortium.

Which Catalog Search Should I Try?
The type of search you should do is determined by the kind of catalog entries or records you want to find. There are eight kinds of possible FamilySearch Catalog searches. In the catalog clicking on the name of the search will open or close that search.

The table below briefly describes each of the eight types of searches. For further details about each type of search, click on name of the search in the table.

When you want to change to a new kind of search it helps to close the old search first. Close the old search by clicking the "X" in the upper right corner of the area around the search box. Then click on the new search type to open that kind of search.

Another way to close an old search is to click on the name of that type of search, for example, Places.

Combined Searches
You can also combine two or more FamilySearch Catalog searches if a single search alone yields too many results to be practical. For example, you could combine a Surnames Search and a Keywords Search. First close all the other search types. Then click the Surnames  and the Keywords  searches. A search for "Smith" in the Surnames Search  yields over 4,000 results. But combined with the Keywords Search  for the phrase "Philadelphia cave" this combination returns only one result.

Combining Surnames  and Keywords  searches for a family name and a state where they lived is often a successful strategy. "Smith" in the Surnames  field and combined with "Hawaii" in the Keywords  field will yield a manageable 52 results.

When It's Not in the Catalog
Before concluding that something is not in the FamilySearch Catalog, try the following strategies:


 * Search under another jurisdiction in a Places Search. For example, if there are no results for your topic on the county level, try searching again under the town, state, or national jurisdiction levels, or in neighboring counties and towns. If your ancestor lived in Cleveland, Ohio, you would make a place search for Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, and Ohio.
 * Look again in Surnames Search for variations of the family name.
 * Try a variety of searches. Use a Keywords Search, Subjects Search, Authors Search, or Titles Search.
 * Try again later. FamilySearch is constantly acquiring new materials.

Try other repositories. Many other libraries and archives have information about ancestors. Try their online catalogs to see if they have what you need. For example, try catalogs like the WorldCat (world's largest network of online content and services), or the Daughters of the American Revolution Online Library Catalog.

If a repository's catalog is not online, try contacting them by phone or mail to learn if they have records about an ancestor. For a directory of U.S. historical genealogical societies see http://www.obitlinkspage.com/hs/index.html.

Search the Internet. Many records are being digitized and put on the Internet. In FamilySearch's Historical Records Collections you will find billions of names across hundreds of Family History Library collections including birth, marriage, death, probate, land, military, Ancestral File, and the International Genealogical Index. Also, search engines like Google, or Yahoo can help locate many other historical sources available on the Internet.

Related Content

 * Abbreviations in the FamilySearch Catalog
 * Deciphering FamilySearch Catalog Entries
 * FamilySearch Catalog Locality Subject Subdivisons
 * FamilySearch Catalog Places Search