The World Conference on Records—a Part of the Sesquicentennial

When the World Conference on Records opens August 12, a major event of the Church’s sesquicentennial celebration will be under way. More than 10,000 people from twenty-five countries are expected to gather in the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City to learn about preparing personal and family histories.

The conference is designed for a general audience.

Brigham Young University’s third annual Family History and Genealogical Research Seminar will be held this year in conjunction with the World Conference on Records. Primary emphasis of the combined World Conference on Records and the BYU seminar will be to benefit nonprofessionals, historians, genealogists, sociologists, demographers, and archivists who are interested in family history and genealogy. With “Preserving Our Heritage” as the theme, the topics will include family histories, demographic studies, genealogical research, and royalty and heraldry.

Keynote speaker at the opening general assembly of the World Conference on Records will be President Spencer W. Kimball, who has long encouraged Latter-day Saints to be diligent in personal and family record keeping.

The four-day conference will feature 235 speakers from North America, India, Peru, South Africa, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Sarawak, Italy, Scandinavia, central Europe, and Great Britain.

Author Alex Haley will be a speaker at the conference, and conference planners say, “He has an exciting new story to tell.” He has said that this conference will be “the epoch event in family history in our time.”

A major purpose of the conference is to stimulate the writing of personal and family histories, with the transcending benefit of unifying and strengthening families.

Registration fee for the conference is $50 for the four days or $17.50 per day. For student ages twelve through twenty-five, the fee is $25. After June 15, a late-registration fee of $10 for adults and $4 for youths will apply.

Information on registration and housing is available by writing to World Conference on Records, Genealogical Department, 50 E. North Temple St., Salt Lake City, Utah 84150. Or those interested may call toll free 1-800-453-3222 in the United States, from outside of Utah. The number for calling from within Utah (not a toll-free number) is 1-531-3335.