FamilySearch Library

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Contact Information
E-mail: FHL@FamilySearch.org

Address:


 * 35 North West Temple Street
 * Salt Lake City, Utah 84150-3400

Telephone: 801-240-2584 or 866-406-1830

Hours and holidays: click here.

Parking and Transportation:


 * For a Family History Library area pay-parking lots map click here.
 * For TRAX (light rail) and bus public transportation information click here.

Library Background
• Founded in 1894 to gather genealogical records and assist members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with their family history and genealogical research • Largest library of its kind in the world • Open to the general public at no charge • Visited by an estimated 1,900 or more individual patrons and groups each day.

Online Resources
• FamilySearch is the online web site which hosts: • The Ancestral File. • The International Genealogical Index. • The Pedigree Resource File database. • US Social Security Death Index • Vital Records Index  • 1880 United States • 1881 British Isles • 1881 Canadian Census

• Record Search is a pilot web site hosting many more databases that have been indexed through the FamilySearch Indexing program, including censuses, vital, church, military, and land records from around the world.

• The Family History Library Catalog online catalog describing the library's holdings.

Records Collection
• The collection includes over 2.4 million rolls of microfilmed genealogical records; 742,000 microfiche; 310,000 books, serials, and other formats; 4,500 periodicals; 3,400 electronic databases. • The Ancestral File database contains more than 36 million names that are linked into families. • The International Genealogical Index database contains approximately 600 million names of deceased individuals. An addendum to the International Genealogical Index contains an additional 125 million names. These names have been patron submitted or extracted from thousands of original birth, christening and marriage records. • The Pedigree Resource File database contains over 80 million names that are linked into families. • Records available are from the United States, Canada, the British Isles, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. • In 2003, the collection increased monthly by an average of 4,100 rolls of film, 700 books, and 16 electronic resources. • A majority of the records contain information about persons who lived before 1930. • Approximately 200 cameras are currently microfilming records in over 45 countries. Records have been filmed in over 110 countries, territories, and possessions.

Donations
Gifts of family histories, organized collections, and other records that contain genealogical information are welcome. For example, you can write a history of your family and donate a copy to the Family History Library. When you donate an item, you can indicate that you would like the item microfilmed, as well. Guidelines and instructions on how to donate are on our Web site.

Patron Resources
• over 450 patron computers • 509 microfilm readers • 36 microfiche readers • 28 microfilm and microfiche copiers • 4 microfilm scanners • 15 book copiers • Seating capacity for 396 at tables • Orientation and research classes

Personnel
• Currently 125 full-time and part-time professional staff • Approximately 400 trained volunteers


 * • British Reference Consultants Directory
 * • European Reference Consultants Directory
 * • United States and Canada Reference Consultants Directory

Guides

 * Johni Cerny, and Wendy L. Elliott, The Library: a Guide to the LDS Family History Library (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Pub., 1988) [FHL Book 979.2258 A3Li].
 * J. Carlyle Parker, Going to Salt Lake City to Do Family History Research, 3rd ed. (Turlock, Calif.: Marietta Pub., 1996) [FHL Book 979.2258 J5p 1996].

Family History Centers
• Family history centers are branches of the Family History Library. • Over 4,000 family history centers operate in more than 88 countries. • Local family history centers are staffed by helpful volunteers. • About 100,000 rolls of microfilm are circulated to family history centers each month.

• Click here to locate the nearest family history center, or call 866-406-1830 in the United States and Canada.

Alternate Repositories
If you cannot find a source you need at the Family History Library, try one or more of these other repositories.

Repositories with very large genealogical collections


 * Library of Congress, Washington, DC, Local History and Genealogy Reading Room is part of the world's largest library including 50,000 genealogies, 100,000 local histories, and collections of manuscripts, microfilms, maps, newspapers, photographs, and published material, strong in North American, British Isles, and German sources.
 * National Archives I, Washington DC, census, pre-WWI military service &amp; pensions, passenger lists, naturalizations, passports, federal bounty land, homesteads, bankruptcy, ethnic sources, prisons, and federal employees.
 * Allen County Public Library (Indiana) home of the Periodical Source Index (PERSI), more than 350,000 printed books and 513,000 items of microfilm/fiche including family histories, censuses, city directories, passenger lists, military records, local histories, American Indians, African Americans, Canadian, British, &amp; German collections.

Repositories with significant Latter-day Saint collections


 * Church History Library, Salt Lake City, LDS history 1830-now: diaries, manuscripts, Church records, photos, oral history, architectural drawings, pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals, maps, microforms, audiovisual material
 * Daughters of Utah Pioneers, SLC, the Museum displays artifacts, and the History Department collects and preserves about 100,000 histories of pioneers who set out for, settled, or were born in Utah by 10 May 1869.
 * Utah State Historical Society, SLC, family histories, photographs, books, manuscript collections, telephone directories, maps, newspapers, yearbooks, and periodicals are available in the Research Center and online.

Neighboring repositories


 * Brigham Young University, Provo UT, genealogy, history, census, Family History Center, digital family history.
 * Salt Lake City Public Library Utah newspapers on microfilm, and genealogical databases.
 * Utah State Archives, SLC, newspaper, death, land, court, history, naturalization, military, directories, criminals.
 * Utah State University, Logan UT, Special Collections and Archives local historical and biographical sources.
 * University of Utah, SLC, history, biography, newspapers, government documents, and Western Americana.
 * United States District Court of Utah, Salt Lake City, federal court records.
 * Salt Lake County Court local court records.