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 Vision: Why We Built 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."

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The Vision: Why We Built FamilySearch Wiki