About
About FamilySearch
It's all about family. FamilySearch is a nonprofit family history organization dedicated to connecting families across generations. FamilySearch believes that families bring joy and meaning to life.
Our Vision
Learning about our ancestors helps us better understand who we are—creating a family bond, linking the present to the past, and building a bridge to the future.
Our vision is carried out by a dedicated team of employees and volunteers who work tirelessly to preserve and share the largest collection of genealogical and historical records in the world. We strive to create and link the best and most valuable research resources to help people discover who they are by exploring where they come from. For over 100 years, FamilySearch and its predecessors have been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide.
FamilySearch—A World Leader
FamilySearch is the largest genealogy organization in the world. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services each year to learn more about their family history. FamilySearch provides:
Free
A service to all at no cost
4+ Billion
Names from all over the world
4,745
FamilySearch Centers worldwide
24/7
Free expert phone support
Get involved, and impact the lives of families across the world.
Create an accountThe FamilySearch Story
OUR COMMITMENT TO CONNECT ANCESTORS
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the primary benefactor for FamilySearch services. Our commitment to helping people connect with their ancestors is rooted in our beliefs—that families are meant to be central to our lives and that family relationships are intended to continue beyond this life.
We hold that all family members—those living, those past, and those future—share an enduring bond that reaches across the generations. To us this means that families are forever, and an important part of acting on this belief is doing family history.
100 YEARS OF RECORD GATHERING AND PRESERVATION
FamilySearch, historically known as the Genealogical Society of Utah, which was founded in 1894, is dedicated to preserving the records of the family of mankind. Our purpose is simple—help people connect with their ancestors through easy access to historical records.
We gladly join and partner with others who share this vision. We pioneered industry standards for gathering, imaging, indexing, and preserving records. Advances in technology and the emergence of our digital world now provide an opportunity for us to share these resources with the world.
Our Services
These are some of the services we offer record custodians:
Image Capture
Obtaining a preservation quality image is often the most costly and time-consuming step for records custodians. Microfilm has been the standard, but digital is emerging. Whether you opt to do it yourself or use one of our worldwide camera teams, we can help.
Digital Conversion
For those records custodians who already have a substantial collection of microfilm, we can help digitize those images and even provide digital image storage.
Preservation
Preservation copies of microfilm, microfiche, and digital records from over 100 countries and spanning hundreds of years are safely stored in the Granite Mountain Records Vault—a long-term storage facility designed for preservation.
Online Indexing
Once an image is digitized, key data needs to be transcribed in order to produce a searchable index that patrons around the world can access. Our online indexing application harnesses volunteers from around the world to quickly and accurately create indexes.
Online Access
Whether your goal is to make your records freely available to the public or to help supplement your budget needs, we can help you get your records online. To minimize your costs and increase access for your users, we can host your indexes and records on FamilySearch.org, or we can provide tools and expertise that enable you to create your own hosted access.