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Pollak Library

Genealogy & Family History Research: Major Online Repositories

Resources, tips, and tutorials for conducting genealogy research, with an emphasis on U.S. genealogy.

FamilySearch

FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization and an online historical records repository operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (referred to hereinafter as the LDS Church). It is based out of Salt Lake City, Utah, and provides 100% free access to its records, regardless if one is an LDS member or not.

The organization preserves and provides access to historical records from all over the world, partnering with institutions from all over the world, to assist with digitizing (paper, bound, microform records), indexing, creating preservation copies, and providing free access to those materials.

This 2-3/4 minute video was published in 2012, however the mission and services it describes is still current. 

Free Accounts & Records Access

FamilySearch has always made its services available for free to the public. But in November 2017, they began requiring that users authenticate first before being able to access search results or records.

FamilySearch operates the Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City, Utah. The FHL is the largest genealogy library in the world, and is a definite must-do for any serious genealogist.

The Family History Library is normally open seven days a week (with limited Sunday hours,  and access to the 1st floor only) excluding designated holidays, and can be used by anyone for free. The FHL is staffed by a mix of friendly helpful staff and volunteers. Research specialists make up part of the staff, who each specialize in different areas of the world. Those who specialize in non-English-speaking countries are fluent in those languages.

Looking Inside the FHL

This video tour of the Family History Library was produced by FamilySearch in February 2020, leading up to the RootsTech conference that FamilySearch puts on each year. The library tour is lead by Lynn turner, the Assistant Director of the Family History Library. The video tour showcases some of the innovative new learning spaces and equipment that were in place already when I last visited in January 2020. Pay particular attention to fabulous new microfilm/multiple-monitor stations.

The library also operates an extensive branch library system throughout the world. These branch libraries are referred to as FamilySearch Centers. These branch libraries were called Family History Centers (FHCs) for a long time, but underwent a recent rebranding to FamilySearch Centers, and most genealogists till use the old FHC name. Old habits are hard to change. So you will encounter references to. both in our lesson materials.

FamilySearch Centers

FamilySearch Centers can be used by anyone for free, and are staffed with friendly helpful volunteers. Each FHC maintains a small collection of non-circulating materials. The centers vary in size, with some (like the Los Angeles location) that are quite large,  although most are small. Each center provides free access to a number of genealogy database subscriptions.

FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries

Libraries and archives worldwide can apply to be an Affiliate Library (Links to an external site.) of FamilySearch. This allows those libraries to offer in-house access for patrons to a number of IP-restricted (Internet Protocol restricted) digitized collections. Before the microfilm lending policy was phased out, patrons could order microfilm from the FHC to view at an Affiliate Library.

Ancestry

Ancestry is a for-profit commercial online repository, and provider of genealogy products and services, based out of Lehi, Utah. It bills itself as the “largest provider of family history and personal DNA testing” in the world, with “more than 2 million paying subscribers across all its family history websites and approximately 1.4 million DNA samples in the AncestryDNA database." (Source: Ancestry.com)

The company dates its founding as 1984, but the Ancestry.com website did not launch until 1996.

Collection Scope

Ancestry seeks out, preserves, and provides access to collections from all over the world. Their U.S. collection includes all states and the federal district, representing all eras of U.S. history.

Two Versions

Ancestry comes in two versions: the individual consumer subscription version (Ancestry.com), and Ancestry Library Edition, which is licensed to libraries and other institutions, usually for use by multiple users at a time. We will explore both versions on the next set of lesson pages.

Ancestry.com is the commercial version of Ancestry, which is purchased by individual subscribers. 

Individual Subscriber Accounts

Ancestry.com  provides several different individual subscription packages , each providing access to a different range of collections. Each individual paid subscriber has their own account and member profile. A user must be logged in (authenticated) to view the collections that are restricted to paid subscribers.

Free & Limited Accounts

Ancestry allows individuals to create free accounts, even without a paid subscription. These free account members cannot access most of the historical records collections, but they can use and take advantage of the other services available to registered users, such as:

  • creating and updating family trees,
  • sharing and collaborating on trees,
  • reading and posting to the message boards,
  • watching the online video courses in Ancestry Academy,
  • and buying a DNA test.

It is important to note that if someone was once a paid member and saved a bunch of records to their family tree, but later let the paid subscription lapse, the family tree and information in that tree remain in tact. However that free accountholder will no longer be able to access any of the subscription-based historical records that were previously attached to their tree. If they reactivate their paid subscription, the attached historical records become available again if those records fall within the current paid subscription package.

Free Record Collections

Ancestry.com allows free access to a number of their collections (not a lot, but a good selection). These free collections are made available through the World Archives Project (Links to an external site.), or selected partner institutions or projects whose terms require providing free access. A paid subscription is not required to access or view these collections, which include a mix of indexes and actual digitized records.

These free collections can be searched for free without authenticating, however one must register for and authenticate with a free account in order to view those free records. Someone with a free account can attach those free records to their family tree, and continue to view those free records from within their family tree. These free collections can be found here (Links to an external site.).

Ancestry Member Trees

Members can create as many online trees as they want. Unlike FamilySearch, Ancestry trees are not shared by default, and are not public to all authenticated members by default. An ancestry member can make any of their trees:

  • totally private (viewable just to them),
  • totally public with living people privatized (viewable to any authenticated Ancestry member), or
  • viewable to just certain invited members (i.e., certain family members or collaborators).

Ancestry members can invite other Ancestry members to have edit access and work together on a tree.

Ancestry Library Edition (ALE) is licensed and offered through ProQuest, a library vendor that licenses many of the research databases to which the Pollak Library subscribes. The Pollak Library, however, does not have an ALE subscription.

  • Access to Ancestry Library Edition

ALE is usually only available from inside libraries that subscribe to this service. Check with the libraries for which you have accounts and library cards to determine if they subscribe to ALE.

Covid Pandemic Update: Due to the Covid pandemic restricting in-person patron access to public libraries, ProQuest and Ancestry have been providing temporary remote access to Ancestry Library Edition for subscribing public libraries who have the necessary authentication measures in place. This agreement is currently in place through June 30, 2021, and ProQuest and Ancestry will continue to reevaluate this date. Check with any public libraries for which you have a library card to determine if they provide temporary remote access.

Differences with Ancestry.com

There are some differences between ALE and the regular Ancestry.com. 

  • Personalization features like Ancestry Member Trees and DNA data are not available in ALE.
  • Some collections are not available in ALE, which usually applies to collections like newspapers since ProQuest has other research database products for those, which ProQuest separately licenses.