FamilySearch

The Genealogical Society of Utah, now FamilySearch, was founded in 1894 to help Church members trace their family trees. What started locally supporting a handful of languages nearly 100 years ago has blossomed into a website that has users from 238 countries. In 1938, filming of paper documents began in church and government archives. Microfilm was used until 2002, when capture became 100% digital. In 1964 the first local family history center opens. FamilySearch centers currently provide in-person research help at more than 5,000 locations worldwide. In 1966 the Church completes construction of a safe, long-term storage solution—built into a granite mountain—for its large and growing records collection. In 1999 The FamilySearch website launched and quickly became the most popular family history website on the internet with 7 million hits per day. In 2002 The 1880 census, listing United States residents in 1880, becomes the first publicly searchable record collection on FamilySearch.org. In 2011 RootsTech debuts in Salt Lake City. Over the years it has become the largest genealogy and family history conference in the world. In 2013 FamilySearch.org tops 1 billion records indexed thanks to hundreds of thousands of indexing volunteers. Five years later it crossed 2 billion.