Preparing to go to the Family History Library (FHL). Page 1 If you are planning on visiting the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and it s your first visit, you will be amazed at the sheer volume of materials held there. Some general information about the Family History Library in Salt Lake City It is the world s largest genealogy library If has material in the form of microfilm, microfiche, books and reference material from countries all over the world. There are experts there to help you with everything from basic genealogy to language translation, to research techniques for specific countries, and so on. If you want to speak to an expert look for someone with a gold name badge with black lettering. They are employees of the library rather than people who are serving there temporarily. If you are in doubt ask if there is an expert on whatever you need help with or head to the people behind the desk on each floor. Although millions of records from their microfilm have been indexed and put on line at their website, those records represent only a small fraction of the total records held at the library. It will be many, many years before every group of records from every microfilm and microfiche have been indexed and put online. Before traveling anywhere in the hope of finding records on your ancestors, you should always check at the family history library first. This is especially true if you plan to visit overseas. Books at the FHL are never loaned out so if you have a list of books you want to look through be sure to do them early during your stay. Films and fiche are another matter. If you miss looking at a film or fiche you can always order it and look at it at a local family history center. Item numbers: If there is an item number after a film number, it is important to know what it is. Many films hold multiple sets of records which may or may not be related. The item number tells you which item to look for on the tape. Items are always arranged on the tape starting with 1 and working up. Sometimes there are markers which identify the beginning of each item and sometimes there aren t. You ll need to keep track of the item numbers as you scroll through the film or you may find yourself searching through the wrong group of records. Microfilm vs Microfiche: if the number begins with a 6 the information is on microfiche rather than microfilm. Microfiche is held in a different area on each floor so you may have to ask where it is. To get the most out of your visit to the FHL you need to know what you want to accomplish while you are there. Once you decide what your goals are you should begin looking at the FHL catalog for materials that will help you accomplish those goals. Do this before you leave home in order to make the most of your time at the library. From the main page of www.familysearch.org click on catalog. This will take you to the screen on the following page.
Preparing to go to the Family History Library (FHL). Page 2 By clicking on the downward pointing triangle in the Search box you ll bring up a list (as shown) of options by which to search. Place names use to find all the materials for a given location. Last Names use to find family histories for a specific surname. Titles use to find a specific book or collection of data. Author Information use to find all the materials by a specific author. Subjects use to find all the materials about a specific subject. Call Numbers use to find a specific book by its call number. Film Numbers use to find a specific film or fiche by its number. Keywords (beta.) use to look for a key word that might appear in the information about a collection of data. As genealogists we typically search for materials containing information or records about the areas where our ancestors lived or for materials which may have been written about our ancestor s. The two best searches for this type of information are the Place Names search and the Last Names search. The subject search is also useful if you are looking for material on a specific topic. If you are trying to find material from the place(s) where your ancestors lived, start with the smallest jurisdiction possible then work up from there. For example: West Seattle and Ballard are Seattle neighborhoods. If your ancestors lived in one of these areas there may be material specific to these areas that you would miss if you just searched for Seattle Washington. Start your search with Ballard Washington or West Seattle Washington, then proceed from there to Seattle Washington, King County Washington, etc.
Preparing to go to the Family History Library (FHL). Page 3 Searching for Ballard Washington brings up 5 items at the FHL library. Click on each link to see specific information the data. On the following screen, each of the five links has been clicked to reveal what is available for Ballard. You can now see a brief explanation for each group of records. Notice that two of the items are duplicated under different categories. This is done in an effort to help patrons find the material they are looking for. In reality, there are only 3 different items for Ballard.
Preparing to go to the Family History Library (FHL). Page 4 To drill down further, click on the title. For example, Voices of Ballard : immigrant stories from the vanishing generation. You will now see the complete catalog entry. By scrolling down this window you can see all the information they have about Voices of Ballard : as shown below. At the top is general information about the data. the Notes section describes the record. Subjects tells you the various ways this item is cataloged. Copies provides the call number for the book, the various libraries where it can be found and if it is available for review About this record provides you with additional information about the item. If this book is one you want to look at while you are at the FHL then you should either jot down the information in a notebook you ll be taking with you to SLC or copy and paste the key information into a word processing document which you should print and take with you to the library. For example: Objective: See if John Turner or Mary Turner are listed in this book. Voices of Ballard : immigrant stories from the vanishing generation 979.7772 D3m FHL US/CAN Book Available Note: This is the minimum amount of information you will need to find the book at the library. You can easily copy and paste additional information from the webpage as needed. Important: Books are sometimes held off premises so if the book doesn t say available you will need to check with someone in the office on the appropriate floor to arrange for the item to be brought to the library. Do this the day you arive in order to ensure you get the book.
Preparing to go to the Family History Library (FHL). Page 5 Expanding the search to Seattle, Washington retrieves a long list of possible materials. Clicking on the option for Directories brings up the following screen.
Preparing to go to the Family History Library (FHL). Page 6 Clicking on the first option Seattle city directory brings up the following screen. In this case the material in the library is on microfilm. At the top is general information about the data. the Notes section describes the record. Subjects tells you the various ways this item is cataloged. Film notes provides specific information about what is on each film, tells you where the film is in the library, and provides the film number(s) and item number (if applicable.) About this record provides you with additional information about the material. In this case there are two films which have Seattle Directory data. The first film covers 1891-1892 and is item #3 on film #1000912. The second film covers 1892-1893 and is item # 2 on film # 1000913. Both films will be found in the US/Canada collection of film. If this film is one you want to look at while you are at the FHL then you should either jot down the information in a notebook you ll be taking with you to SLC or copy and paste the information into a word processing document which you ll take with you to the library. For example: Objective: When did the Haldon family move to Seattle? Seattle city directory 1891-1892 FHL US/CAN Film 1000912 Item 3 1892-1893 FHL US/CAN Film 1000913 Item 2 Important: Films are sometimes held off premises so if there is a notation that the film is in the vault you will need to check with someone in the office on the appropriate floor to arrange for the item to be brought to the library. Do this the day you arrive in order to ensure you get the film. Note: This is the minimum amount of information you will need to find the book at the library. You can easily copy and paste additional information from the webpage as needed.
Preparing to go to the Family History Library (FHL). Page 7 Print this page and then continue to look for other materials that will help you achieve your goal. Repeat this process until you ve found everything you can think of the help you accomplish your objective. When you are done, sort all the papers into piles by objective and clip each group together. Now we ll expand our search to King County. Click on the link Back to Search Results near to top of the page on the left. Change your search criteria to: King, Washington by entering Island, Washington. Notice that as you type the system tries to anticipate what you want. Click on Search and you ll come up with the following: This is a much longer list but much shorter than you will find for some areas. It covers a multitude of subjects so the potential for finding something of interest is greatly increased. Check out every category that may yield results for your objective(s) and repeat the process of copying the key information to a notebook or word processing document under your stated objective. Print the sheets and take them with you when you visit the library. Repeat this process, continuing to expand the location to larger and larger areas, until you have identified every item that will help you achieve your goal. Once you ve done that, start on another objective and find whatever material you can to achieve this new goal. Don t be surprised if you find unexpected items that bring a goal to mind rather than the other way around.
Preparing to go to the Family History Library (FHL). Page 8 If you are looking for published genealogies about your family use the Last Name search. Searching for the last name Corwin yielded the following results. Down the page is the following entry. Hixson trails, from New Jersey to Canada and back : descendants of Timothy and Naomi (Corwin) Hixson of New Jersey and Ontario, with Corwin, Winthrop and Gedney ancestral lines of Salem, Massachusetts. This sounds like it has possibilities since the Hixon, Winthrop and Gedney surnames also fit my current understanding of the family. Click on the item and copy the pertinent information over to a new word processing document. Objective: Find out more about the Corwin family. Hixson trails, from New Jersey to Canada and back : descendants of Timothy and Naomi (Corwin) Hixson of New Jersey and Ontario, with Corwin, Winthrop and Gedney ancestral lines of Salem, Massachusetts. 929.273 H642f FHL FAM HIST Book Available Keep all your papers organized into groups by your different objectives or goals. You ll end up with a bunch of papers for each one. Putting them in order of importance is also a good idea. That way you ll be more likely to look first at the items most likely to solve your objective, thus maximizing your time at the library. Clip everything together for a specific goal and take them with you to the library. As you work with each piece of paper, clip copies of whatever you find in the material to the original paper. That way you ll have everything together when you get home. If you don t find anything in the material make note of that on your paper. What you don t find is just as important to know as what you find. Don t forget there are other ways to search the catalog which may yield interesting results for your research. Titles use to find a specific book or collection of data. Author Information use to find all the materials by a specific author. Subjects use to find all the materials about a specific subject. Call Numbers use to find a specific book by its call number. Film Numbers use to find a specific film or fiche by its number. Keywords (beta.) use to look for a key word that might appear in the information about a collection of data.