Idaho Falls Idaho FamilySearch Center

We are located at 750 W. Elva Street 3 blocks north of the Idaho Falls, Idaho Temple and Visitors Center. We serve all of Bonneville, Butte, Lemhi Counties, and part of Bingham County. We have 90+ part time service missionaries and 11 volunteers in 2014. In 2013 we served 13,139 patrons and held 722 classes. We invite you to join us, either as a volunteer or as a patron.

Library Contacts and Hours
Location Map:


 * Location on Map

Address:


 * 750 West Elva St Idaho Falls Idaho 83402 United States
 * There is ample parking on the street around the Library plus a small parking lot northeast of the building.
 * The Library's entrance is on the south side of the building, facing Elva Street.


 * Language:English

Phone:


 * 1-208-524-5291

E-mail:


 * ID_IdahoFalls@ldsmail.net

Open Hours:

 * Monday:       9:00am-5:00pm
 * Tuesday:      9:00am-8:00pm
 * Wednesday: 9:00am-8:00pm
 * Thursday:    9:00am-8:00pm
 * Friday:         9:00am-5:00pm
 * Saturday:    9:00am-5:00pm

Holiday Schedule:
December 31st-January 1st

March 15th for Eastern Idaho Family History Conference

April 5th General Conference

May 24th-26th Memorial Day

June 23rd-July 8th for yearly maintenance

July 24th closed at 4:00pm Pioneer Day

August 30th-September 1st Labor Day

September 15 Maintenance

October 4th General Conference

October 31st closed at 1:00pm Halloween

November 26th-30th Thanksgiving

December 23rd-31st Christmas

January 1st-4th 2015 for New Years

New Missionary Training Schedule:
January 13th New missionary training

April 14th New missionary training

September 22nd New missionary training

Calendars of Class Schedule
(click on blue above for class schedule)   

Lesson Plans and Class Handouts
After going to the Lesson Plan and Class Handouts directory, select a folder, such as Ancestry Quest, to see the contents.

= Articles of Interest =

We recently decided to combine our news letter with our website and make the website easier to find. The new web address will be iffamilysearch.org.

My wife and I recently celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary with a cruise to Alaska with 6 of our 8 children and their spouses, my four sisters and one brother and his son, a total of 20 in our party. Another son and daughter-in-law met us in Juneau for the day. We saw many wonderful sights and whales but the most important part was having our family with us and spending time with them. Two evenings rather than attending the shows on board, we played Yahtzee with my sisters.

We sometimes get caught up in the ‘doing of things’ rather than the spending time with family. We noticed a family at the next table in the dining room and the father spent all of his spare time on the phone texting or playing games and totally ignoring his five girls. As we do things together be sure to write them down so that you will remember and your posterity will know about you and the things you did.

On the trip I took about 1500 pictures and that will be a source I draw on to write my life history. As I write I also add photos to make it more interesting. I write not every day but often enough so I remember more of the details.

Come in and let us help you with your family search. We have some new features at the family history center. One is a photo digitizer that will digitize a picture in 3 seconds and another is a copier that you can copy and send directly to your account on Family Search photos or documents. Elder Ned Sweat Director Idaho Falls Regional Family History Center



'I am ready now' – Ryan Morgenegg, LDS Church News: Aug. 9 2014 T.C. Christensen's movie, "Ephraim's Rescue," centers around the theme "decisions determine destiny." Deseret News Archives, Provo, Utah Writer, director and producer T.C. Christensen, known for his work on LDS films such as "Ephraim's Rescue," "17 Miracles," "The Work and the Glory" and "Joseph," was the keynote speaker July 31 at the Family History and Genealogy conference held at Brigham Young University.

His remarks focused on lessons learned from the life of Ephraim K. Hanks and other Mormon pioneers. "I love to come and speak about pioneers and family history," said Brother Christensen. "One of the things I realized early on with making films is that the research is everything." As an example, Brother Christensen mentioned in his research for the film "17 Miracles," he came across some information about a little man with disabilities they called "Albert" in the film. A historical reference describes Albert as "the most deformed of any traveler I had ever seen."

Emphasizing the importance of writing down history, Brother Christensen said, "The only reason we know anything about Albert is that one day he got separated from the group and got trapped under a log with two wolves snapping after him.

Some of the men couldn't find Albert, so they searched for him, found him and saved him from the wolves." Because of this incident, a number of Saints wrote in their journals that night about what happened, and that's how historians know Albert existed.

One journal even went as far as to say that there was a group of Saints with disabilities who were put together to travel in the Martin company, said Brother Christensen. Even though the average lifespan for a man in 1856 was 52, Captain Martin put a 70-year-old man named George P. Wah in charge of these Saints with disabilities and tasked him with making sure they made it to Zion.

"Now that's a movie," said Brother Christensen. "I would love to make a movie about those 25 or so souls trying to get to Zion, but I never will. And do you know why? Because we don't know anything else about them." Their experiences were never recorded. *****************************************************************************************************************

Thoughts of Elder Richard G. Scott

In an epistle written over 150 years ago, Joseph Smith stated: “The Saints have the privilege of being baptized for … their relatives who are dead … who have received the Gospel in the spirit, through … those who have been commissioned to preach to them.” Later he added, “Those Saints who neglect it in behalf of their deceased relatives, do it at the peril of their own salvation.” Through further revelation to Joseph Smith and subsequent prophets, there has come an understanding of and the provision for temple work and the family history effort that supports it. Every prophet since Joseph Smith has emphasized the imperative need to provide all ordinances for ourselves and our deceased ancestors. Temple and family history work is one work divided into two parts. They are connected together like the ordinances of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Some members may not be able to do both works because of health or distances to temples. President Howard W. Hunter taught: “We must accomplish the priesthood temple ordinance work necessary for our own exaltation; then we must do the necessary work for those who did not have the opportunity to accept the gospel in life. Doing work for others is accomplished in two steps: first, by family history research to ascertain our progenitors; and second, by performing the temple ordinances to give them the same opportunities afforded to the living. “Yet there are many members of the Church who have only limited access to the temples. They do the best they can. They pursue family history research and have the temple ordinance work done by others. Conversely, there are some members who engage in temple work but fail to do family history research on their own family lines. Although they perform a divine service in assisting others, they lose a blessing by not seeking their own kindred dead as divinely directed by latter-day prophets. … “I have learned that those who engage in family history research and then perform the temple ordinance work for those whose names they have found will know the additional joy of receiving both halves of the blessing.”

Father in Heaven wants each of us to receive both parts of the blessing of this vital vicarious work. He has led others to show us how to qualify. It is up to you and me to claim those blessings. Any work you do in the temple is time well spent, but receiving ordinances vicariously for one of your own ancestors will make the time in the temple more sacred, and even greater blessings will be received. The First Presidency has declared, “Our preeminent obligation is to seek out and identify our own ancestors.” Submitted by Renee Robinson

= Where else can I go to learn to do family history =


 * Basic and advanced research classes are available. Here are found classes from introduction to doing research to performing in depth research such as how to research German records.
 * For information on using familysearch.org try this. This is a series of excellent how-to videos, online courses, guides and manuals, lessons and activities, handouts, and webinars on using The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints genealogy program.
 * Legacy Family Tree has free online WEBINARS. Each video remains free for about a month and then becomes available through the purchase of a CD so you can build a library if you wish.
 * RootsMagic also has free online webinars at: www.rootsmagic.com/Webinars/

What software do I need and where can I get it?

 * The Idaho Falls Family History center does not recommend any particular program. In fact, many different programs are used by the staff.
 * Here is a link from a Google search on Genealogy Software programs that lists the Top Ten..
 * Comparative Informationon several programs are shown on this page. These are all free but do have a more enhanced version you can purchase. After the description there is a link to the vendor's website.
 * If you want to switch from PAF to another software package, Ancestral Quest, Legacy and RootsMagic  will accept your files directly.
 * Ancestral Quest, Legacy Family Tree, RootsMagic and Family Insight are on all of the computers in the FHC for you to use while doing research.

Library Resources



 * 24 networked computer workstations with a data/video projector in the main classroom.
 * 16 networked computer workstations with a data/vidio projector in a secound classroom (resently added) Bell Room
 * 27 networked computer workstations on the main floor with printing capabilities
 * fiberoptics for internet access at worktables (wifi available)
 * large teaching/meeting room with 1 computer, 1 overhead projector, 1 data/video projector, white boards, piano and seating for approximately 60
 * 5 microfilm readers
 * 1 microfiche readers
 * 1 flatbed scanner
 * 1 microfilm/microfiche scanners with printing capabilities.
 * 1 copy machine (color and black/white) Cost black and white 5 cents, color 25 cents; also includes scanning capabilities.
 * a lunch room for patrons (because we love you)
 * We have the capability of binding/repairing (but not restoring) donated books.

Collections and Film/Fiche ordering

 * All microfilm and microfiche must now be ordered online!
 * We have over 14,000 rolls of microfilm and over 16,000 sets of microfiche.
 * Family History Library Catalog
 * Eastern Idaho Obituary Collection;


 * 1) We maintain the Eastern Idaho Death Records Index  which is hosted by BYU Idaho. This is an index of deaths in eastern Idaho and surrounding area from the early 1900s to the present.
 * 2) We have the obituaries published in the local newspapers for most of the individuals found in the Eastern Idaho Death Records Index. These obituaries are not online and can only be viewed at the Center.

Staff Research Specialists
By Appointment Only We have many dedicated and knowledgeable missionaries and volunteers to assist in helping you to find your people. The FHC also teaches classes on doing research in many of these areas.

Danish * Dutch * English * French * German * Germans from Russia * Italian * Latin * Native American * Norwegian * Russian * Scandinavian * Spanish * Swedish * Medieval

Links to useful and fun sites.
Discover technologies that will improve your family history research and knowledge. This is a very, VERY, VERY cool place.Try TechTips

Here is a little magnifier that sits on your computer desktop to enable your poor ol' tired eyes to see things on your screen better.....it does not replace sleep. Virtual Magnifying Glass is a free, open source, screen magnification tool for Windows and Linux. It is simple, customizable, and easy-to-use. The program shows a magnifying glass lens that follows the mouse movement. You can move the lens around the screen to view magnification of any screen area. To close the lens, click the left mouse button. Virtual Magnifying Glass also adds it's own taskbar icon. Left-click on the icon offers a shortcut for launching the lens again.

Irfanview is an image viewer that we use a lot at the FHC. It will even make panoramas from several .jpgs.

Faststone Capture will very quickly and easily capture all of your screen or just a few words. This is version 5.3 which is free. There is a new version, 6.7 which will actually edit video but it is not free.

FamilySearch's Research Wiki

Get research advice, or learn where to find record collections in our 76,956 articles. In the FamilySearch Research Wiki, you can learn how to do genealogical research or share your knowledge with others.

Volunteer at the Library

 * Do you want to learn more about doing family history? We will teach you how to help yourself while we teach you to help others. We encourage you to do your own research when not assisting patrons.
 * Would you like to serve a full or part time mission but need to stay close to home? Come join us at the FHC where you can meet many new people and help them find their ancestors.Make an appointment with Elder Sweat at the Family History Center.
 * Do you have special computer, language or research skills? We have a place for you to keep those skills honed and practiced. Use 'em or lose 'em.
 * You can serve as few as two days a week, Monday through Saturday.