The Family History Library

The world's largest genealogy library is the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, a branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ("LDS"). You don't have to travel all the way to Salt Lake City. The Family History Library has a system of over 3,400 branch libraries, known as Family History Centres ("FHCs"), located throughout the world to help people search for records of their ancestors. The Family History Centres operate in 64 countries, and more than 100,000 rolls of microfilm are circulated to the centres each month. These records include vital, census, land, probate, immigration, and church records, and many other records of genealogical value.

Family History Centres

Everyone is welcome to use a Family History Centre. You do not need to be a member of the LDS faith. These are the physical locations of the principal Family History Centres in England. Please check with the Family Search site for locations outside of England. Most of these are located in or next to meetinghouses of the LDS.

Most of these centres are open only about 20 hours per week. Other centres may exist. To find out if there is one closer to you, call the British Isles Family History Service Centre (BIFHSC). Do not send mail to the individual Family History Centres (FHC) - they have limited staff and do not have time to reply. Mail should be sent to the BIFHSC.

Call first to determine the days and hours a FHC is open. Bring with you the information (names, dates, places) you have on your ancestors. The staff are there to help you do the research, not to do it for you. All the staff are volunteers, so treat them with the courtesy and respect they deserve.

Some FHC may have more resources than others. If you don't find something you need, ask if it is at one of the other centres. The FHC used by the webmaster is a small one with limited resources. Here's what Margaret Taylor has to say about the Toronto, Canada, Centre: "I live in the city of Toronto and the local Mormon Family History Center here has the GRO Indexes - Birth and Marriage 1837- 1983, and Deaths 1837-1988. We also have the films of Scottish Indexes and some Irish, all 1891 census fiche, plus much much more. I am a volunteer there (1 session per week) and we are open various hours, 5 days a week. Although we are pretty well booked-up on the film readers at all times anyone living near enough to visit would be welcome."