Vault Vednesday: FamilySearch Expansion

In today’s edition of Vault Vednesday I’ll talk about Thursday classes at the NGS Family History Conference and the expansion of FamilySearch services.

NGS Conference Thursday’s Classes

A couple of weeks ago I shared my class picks for Vednesday. Here are just a few of the Thursday classes on my radar. For other classes you might enjoy better, check the schedule.

• I like the look of “From Research to Report: How to Write a Proof Summary” by Kay Haviland Freilich, former BCG president. If you’ve examined my Genealogical Maturity Model very much, you know that it is half based on the BCG genealogical proof standard.
• The other half of my Genealogical Maturity Model is based on Elizabeth Shown Mills’s evidence analysis framework. Arrive early if you want to attend her Thursday class, “What Kind of Document is This: Original? Derivative? Primary? Secondary?” It is bound to be jam packed.
• Analysis skills intrigue me:
  • “The Research Cycle: Don’t Pedal Backwards”(Elissa Scalise Powell)
  • “Circumstantial Evidence Adventures On the Research Roads of Europe” (BYU professor, George R. Ryskamp)
  • “Getting the Most From the Records” (Linda Woodward Geiger)
  • “Organizing Evidence to Overcome Record Shortages” (Thomas W. Jones)
• The printed program lists Steve Nickle as the FamilyLink.com class (T216) presenter, but the online program lists fellow blogger, Gena Philibert-Ortega. Maybe there is something to the rumor that Nickle is stepping down as company president. Oops. Did I say that out loud?
• If you love the Internet like I do, consider
  • “Effective Internet Searching” by Elizabeth Kelley Kerstens (NGS Magazine managing editor) and
  • “LDS Resources on the Internet—Hidden Treasures,” by Luana Darby (UGA president).
• Speaking of UGA, the UGA track has interesting looking classes about local resources:
  • the Family History Library,
  • the BYU Harold B. Lee Library, and
  • the Utah State Archive Research Center.
• Looking for autographs? Consider:
  • David Rencher, FamilySearch Chief Genealogy Officer, or
  • Dick Eastman of Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter fame.

You may have missed the early-bird deadline, but don’t fret. Pre-registration can be postmarked up until 12 April 2010. There are just 33 days left.The conference begins 28 April 2010. There are just 49 days left.

FamilySearch Expansion

In January 1964, microfilm copying equipment was moved from the Taylor Building in Salt Lake City to the new Granite Mountain Record Vault (GMRV). Finishing work in offices and laboratory space was nearly complete and finishing of corridor floors later that spring would complete the vault.

The ability to economically copy microfilm at the vault made it possible for FamilySearch (under its previous name, the Genealogical Society of Utah) to experiment with branch libraries of the Salt Lake Family History Library. 

In 1964 FamilySearch announced that the first branch library would be established at the Brigham Young University library in Provo, Utah. Others would be created in Logan, Utah; Cardston, Canada; Mesa, Arizona; and Oakland, California. Branch libraries extended the microfilm resources held in Salt Lake to far away locations. The Family History Library card catalog was microfilmed for distribution to the branches. It was hoped that after a successful pilot, other branches would be added beyond these first five. Today we know branch libraries as Family History Centers (FHCs) and over 4,500 exist around the world.

Microfilming began in 1924. In 1968 FamilySearch added 46,000 microfilms, bringing its collection up to 650,000. Huge processing machines developed 85 feet of microfilm a minute, or about 80,000 feet a day. The number of family history centers had grown to 81, located in 37 states, Canada, New Zealand, and Mexico. The Family History Library had 230 microfilm readers and served 140,000 patrons each year. It held 90,000 books and added more than 200 new volumes each month.

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Sources

     The Genealogical Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Records Protection in an Uncertain World, 16 p. brochure ([Salt Lake City, Utah: self-published, 1973]).
     Arnold Irvine, "Genealogy… A Happy Epidemic Spreads," Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah), 18 January 1964, Church News section, pp. 1, 8-9; digital images (http://news.google.com/newspapers : accessed 25 December 2009).
     "World Conference On Records," Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah), 2 August 1969, Church News section, pp. 1, 3-11; digital images (http://news.google.com/newspapers : accessed 25 December 2009).