Retirement of Research Outlines

For decades, the Family History Library has published research outlines which instruct patrons in genealogical techniques and list the best records to use in family history research. In 2009 we are retiring research outlines for several reasons outlined in the Introduction to the FamilySearch Wiki. This article explains how to use FamilySearch Wiki to find more current versions of the types of information traditionally found in research outlines.

In 2008 we copied all the research outlines to the wiki and began updating them. We then split the long outlines into separate articles. A research outline on paper might have 40 pages covering many topics such as census, vital, and land records. In the wiki, each topic is covered in a separate article. So if you're used to referencing the Church Records section of the Pennsylvania Research Outline, on the wiki you would find the same information by doing a search on the terms pennsylvania church and selecting on the Search Results page the article named "Pennsylvania Church Records."

However, if researchers would still like to access the old Research Outlines or Guides for various states and countries, they can still be found online, buried deep in the "old" FamilySearch.org website. You can use a search engine, such as Google, to search for these terms "Research Outlines Family History" then click on the link "FamilySearch.org -- Research Helps" or you can go paste the following links in your browser URL address bar:

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/RG/frameset_rhelps.asp?Page=./research/type/Research_Outline.asp&amp;ActiveTab=Type

OR

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/RG/frameset_rhelps.asp

Note that the first link is shown on two lines, but it is really just one long link.

Related content
An Introduction to the FamilySearch Wiki