FamilySearch.org -- What's Your Story?

What's your story? It's an important question
. Why? Because you're part of a much bigger story
that stretches back through history
connecting to hundreds of fascinating lives and events that come together in the
person you see in the mirror every morning.
That makes it a story worth exploring.
It can teach you about who you are
, where you belong
, and who you might become
. That's why FamilySearch has spent more
than a hundred years filling the world's
largest free network of people, facilities, and online resources
dedicated to helping you find your family history stories. How does FamilySearch
do it?
You could say it all starts with the world's biggest treasure
hunt. We work non-stop with governments,
religious archives, and other
organizations in more than 100 countries
trying to dig up family history records that we can collect and preserve,
and we've been doing that for a very long time... since 1894 to be exact
. We've found some amazing treasures
along the way
. FamilySearch has managed to build a library of more than
3.3 billion records.
That's well over 12 billion names... by far the largest selection of family
history names in the world.
We couldn't take all of our newly discovered treasure and just stuff it into
a
giant file cabinet.
Like with any treasure, we take steps to preserve it.
For family history records, this means creating a high-quality image of each
record. This used to be done on microfilm...
a lot of it
... 2.4 million rolls. Today it's done with the latest
digital technology and FamilySearch goes to great lengths
to keep these records safe and protected
. We store them in a climate-controlled
mountain fault in Utah,
called the Granite Mountain Records Vault.
But just because they're locked in a vault doesn't mean you can't get to them
. Remember, this is about you finding
your story.
FamilySearch opens the record scans to over 150,000
volunteer indexers who document the information on the records and make it
searchable and accessible to people searching for their family history.
They've been able to make more than one billion names available on a
fully searchable database
. Why is that so great?
Because it means people just like you can get online at FamilySearch.org
and search through a massive library to find their family names. More than 150
million people have done just that
since it was started in 1999. That's only the beginning of how
FamilySearch can help you find your
story.
We have more than 4,600 FamilySearch centers
located in 70 countries around the world
staffed with expert volunteers waiting to help you.
Or if you ever make it to Salt Lake City, you can stop by the Family History
Library
. These resources are all free and available for you to use almost anytime
. So what's your story
? Can FamilySearch help you find it?
That's what we do after all
. Gather, preserve, and share the world's largest
collection of family history records.
We are convinced there are treasures to be found when you build those connections
to your family,
your history
, your story.
But don't take our word for it...
Start your own treasure hunt today.
Learn more at FamilySearch.org