Religious Education

Lesson 3.2
Family History Centers

What is a Family History Center?
Family history centers are branch facilities of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Since many people are not able to travel to Salt Lake City to use the Family History Library, local family history centers make the library's resources accessible to those interested in family history research.
Centers provide access to most of the microfilms and microfiche in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City to help patrons identify their ancestors. Millions of records are stored on microfilms and microfiche. Patrons can order microfilms and microfiche to view at family history centers.

• What is a microfilm? A roll of film that contains reduced photographic images of various records.
• What is a microfiche? Rectangular sheets of microfilm on which information is arranged in rows and columns.

Everyone is welcome to come to the centers and use family history center resources.
Most centers are located in meetinghouses of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Centers are administered and operated by local Church members.

Location and Hours
There are approximately 4,500 family history centers worldwide. To find a family history center near you, click here.
Each center determines its own hours. Before you visit, contact the center to verify hours and location.

Services
Research help from volunteer staff. Staff members will not do research for you. However, they can give you an orientation about the center, answer some research questions (research expertise in each center varies), help you use center resources, and order microfilms and microfiche from the Family History Library.

Training classes. Many centers offer patron classes on a variety of genealogical research topics.

Referrals to other libraries and archives. Family history center staff may also be aware of other institutions in the area that can help you.

Resources available at Centers 
Those you've already learned:

• Internet access -Most centers have this.
• Personal Ancestral File -Most family history centers have Personal Ancestral File available for patron use on a center computer.
• FamilySearch programs -Some of the programs you learned on FamilySearch.org are also on FamilySearchTM (DOS). Those programs include:
• Ancestral File
• International Genealogical Index
• Social Security Death Index
• Family History Library Catalog
• Access and knowledge of the new FamilySearch

Those unique to family history centers:

• Microfilm and microfiche from the Family History Library - Centers only keep some microfilms and microfiche in their collections. Patrons can arrange to have copies of most Family History Library microfilms and microfiche loaned to the center for a small fee. For more information about loans, see Frequently Asked Questions.
• Published Resources -Most centers have a small collection of published reference sources that include research helps, genealogies, histories, gazetteers, atlases, and maps. These will vary from center to center.
• Family History Library Catalog -You have already learned about the catalog on the Internet, but there is also a microfiche version at each family history center.
• Additional computer resources - Centers may have additional resource files on compact disc.
• FamilySearchTM (DOS). Many centers have a computer with FamilySearchTM (DOS), a collection of computer files and programs to help individuals search for information about their ancestors. These records have not been updated since 1999 and are therefore not as helpful in research. FamilySearchTM (DOS) includes:
• Ancestral File
• International Genealogical Index (IGI)
• Social Security Death Index
• United States Military Index
• Scottish Church Records
• Family History Library Catalog
• Ordinance Index - This file is the Church's official Temple record index.
• TempleReady- this version of TempleReady is obsolete.

FamilySearchTM (DOS) is a previous version of FamilySearch.org. To see a comparison chart, click here.

What to bring

• Name of ancestor
• Information (event dates and palces, family member names, etc.)
• Pedigree Chart
• Family History related questions
• A desire to learn!

Fees

• There is no fee to visit a family history center or to use most of its resources.
• Research outlines and resource guides may be sold at cost.
• There are small fees for:
• Photocopies
• Computer printouts
• Microfilms or microfiche loaned to the center from the family history library to cover postage. Fees within the U.S. are as follows:

• For other countries' fees, refer to the nearest family history center.
• There may also be other small fees that vary between centers.

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