The Church of Jesus Christ of LSD or the latter day saint has a family history library. This has more than 300,000 books, two million records in the form of microfilms and around 400,000 microfiche. Also there are a collection of manuscripts like indexes, family and local histories and other documents to help in genealogical research.
This library has a varied collection of information from different countries like China, Hungary, Chile and Netherlands. But more emphasis is given on countries like America, Europe, Great Britain and Canada. Using the archives the researchers can search for the original documents of the ancestors.
When it comes to the amount of information it holds from the United States, It has various documents from courthouses all around the country and regional and state records. The records containing the census of 1790 and 1920 are also present there.
This Family history library is very famous for its extensive knowledge and excellent assistance. One can get the staff's help to guide them throughout the search. Family Search computerized system and the loan programs between the libraries are other two main sources which are present in almost all the branches of this center all over world.
The International Genealogical Index (IGI)
Index record houses the birth and marriage records of all the people in its society, even of the dead. It originally begins by the submission of records by both the church members and others. In 1969 the Church of Latter saints started the IGI. And however the records dating to the time before 1970 were extracted. Improvement in the Extraction program was made just to prevent the people from getting documents from the church records. There are over hundred volunteers involved. They travel worldwide to film the documents. Then the other volunteers will transcribe these records on films.
The Family History Library has come out with a list of records, The parish and vital records, which were extracted and listed in the IGI from almost all the geographical areas, the time periods and the new records. Usually the volunteers copy documents like birth, death, marriages of the dead, the extraction of these records do not focus mainly on the ancestral lines of the members and the church volunteers.
The IGI has over 250 names listed in it. Most of the names are got from documents which date back to the time of 16th and 19th centuries. But at the same time not every name in the listed countries and those from the index documents are included in the IGI.
However, the names are not restrained to the people who are related to the members of the LSD. The IGI can be accessed anywhere from the Family history centers and library all around the country. Some of the genealogical centers and main libraries also have this facility. You can also access it through microfiche and CD-ROM.
Do not come to the false conclusion that all the records listed on IGI are accurate and taken from the original. There can always differ. And there is also a possibility that you may find incomplete records. At times the records may contain only dates and names. Those records which are complete were recorded before 1992. But never the less the Genealogical Index serves as a great and a vast source of information.
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