Genealogy 1983: A Conversation with Elder Royden G. Derrick

Elder Derrick, of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy, and Executive Director of the Genealogical Department, answers a number of questions on genealogy.

Ensign (E): Two years have passed since the July 1981 target date for submitting documented four-generation pedigree charts and family group records. How many forms has the Genealogical Department received?

Elder Derrick: As of March of this year, 143,600 pedigree charts and 883,000 family group records had been received. We’re continuing to receive approximately 1000 sets of forms each month. Some of these records go beyond four generations even though we have not yet called for them to be submitted.

E: Can members still submit their records if they missed the 1981 target date?

Elder Derrick: Yes. Every family should send their four-generation records in if they haven’t already done so.

E: What happens to this material after it has been submitted?

Elder Derrick: We assign a number to each set of records and advise the submitter what his number is and how he can make corrections or additions to the material he has submitted. If a person wants to make a change on a sheet he has submitted, he should fill out a new sheet and place the number assigned at the top of the page. Then when it arrives at the Genealogical Department we simply take out the old sheet and put in the new one. Whenever possible the person who submitted the forms originally should be the one to submit the change.

E: If a family representative doesn’t know his assigned number, how can he find it out?

Elder Derrick: Write to Ancestral File, Genealogical Department, 50 East North Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah.

E: Are these family records accessible now to other people to aid them in their own research? For example, if I want to tap into the research a distant relative did, is it possible for me to do so by writing to the Genealogical Library?

Elder Derrick: Not at the present time. We plan to microfilm these records and make them available in that form. Later we will enter them into a computer, so eventually they will be accessible in printout form.

E: If we’ve submitted our four-generation records, what other genealogical responsibilities do we have?

Elder Derrick: Every family should do all they can to research their genealogy back as far as they can go. Then they will be able to submit it to the Ancestral File when invited to do so.

Furthermore, we should attend the temple as often as possible to see that our progenitors and others receive their temple blessings. In order to do so, we must determine which individuals on our genealogical records have not had their temple work done previously—and then submit those names for temple work. We should keep a personal journal and write personal and family histories. Of course, we should establish family organizations and support their genealogical projects and activities.

E: Five years ago, in 1978, stakes began to be involved in the name extraction program. How successful has this program been?

Elder Derrick: It has met our every expectation. Approximately six million names for endowments and two million marriage entries are extracted annually. Of the total number of names receiving proxy ordinances in the temple, approximately 78 percent originate from the extraction program, and 22 percent from patron submissions. We have on hand—waiting for temple ordinance work—about ten million names. So you can see that the extraction program has worked extremely well—and that we have a need for more temple work to be done. We must be careful, however, not to permit extraction work to replace family genealogical research. The extraction program was designed as a support to family research. We are pleased that in addition to the success in the extraction program, patron input from family research continues to increase.

E: How many languages are being extracted?

Elder Derrick: Languages assigned so far are Spanish, French, German, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Dutch. And we have projects under development for Portuguese and Italian.

E: How many people are involved?

Elder Derrick: We have extraction programs established in more than 715 stakes around the world, with more than ten thousand volunteers involved. Ordinarily these people are called for eighteen months, but we’ve found that when their tenure is up, they don’t want to leave. There is a great spirit in this extraction work, which is consistent with what one would expect from the spirit of Elijah.

E: Does the Genealogical Department continue to film records around the world for name extraction?

Elder Derrick: Yes. The number of names we are now acquiring each year has increased almost threefold since 1978. We have 103 cameras operating in forty countries, filming about fifty million exposures a year. Each exposure usually takes in two pages of a book.

E: Are names then extracted from these records and processed for temple work?

Elder Derrick: Yes. We have Genealogical Service Centers operating in various countries around the world to accomplish this work. Everything doesn’t have to be processed in Salt Lake City any more. These service centers are located near temples outside the United States and Canada. Our objective is for each temple district to become self-sufficient in furnishing names, processing them, and performing temple ordinances for them.

E: Ground has recently been broken for a new genealogical library to be built west of Temple Square. What will it offer that the present library doesn’t?

Elder Derrick: The new library, to be completed in the fall of 1985, will have five floors totaling 136,000 square feet, plus an adjacent 6,000-square-foot underground storage area to house lesser-used microfilm and books.

The new library will feature humidity control and special lighting fixtures to prolong the life of the collections, and is designed to accommodate future developments in library technology.

In selected areas of the new library, patrons will have access to sound/slide and video training presentations. This will enable a minimum number of staff to more efficiently assist patrons needing instruction and special help.

Our present library has instituted some forward-looking changes that will be incorporated into the new library. For example, we have developed two new sound/slide orientation presentations, along with a tour and printed library guide to teach visitors where to find information and how to use it. Those who use these new helps will find their research easier and more productive.

The library staff has also improved our collection of research papers and other written reference aids. And they offer at no charge an ongoing selection of classes covering use of the library and various aspects of genealogical research. The general public is invited. Details can be learned by writing the Genealogical Library, 50 East North Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah 84150.

One of the most successful things we’ve done in recent years is the expansion of our voluntary service program. Thirty couples are now serving in the Genealogical Library on a full-time Church service basis. We also have approximately 250 part-time people in the library. In addition about thirty couples are serving in various parts of the world as full-time missionaries assigned to genealogical activity. These missionaries are organizing efforts to teach members in new temple districts how to prepare their family names for submission to the temple. They are also negotiating for name acquisitions and are assisting in the microfilming process.

E: As you contemplate the Church’s future efforts in genealogy, what do you see?

Elder Derrick: The family records submitted by members—our ancestral file—will become a lineage-linked computerized file, compiling and organizing mankind’s pedigree. This genealogical history of man will be available to individuals for their own genealogical research. We also anticipate having a family registry service that will enable people to know who else is working on the same family lines—so they can coordinate their efforts and reduce duplication of research. We anticipate expanding our international genealogical index far beyond its present size, incorporating the names of every person for whom proxy temple work has been performed as well as names which have been processed and are awaiting proxy work. Currently this International Genealogical Index includes over seventy-five million names and will become an increasingly valuable research tool.

The object, of course, is to simplify the process of genealogical research for the average person and reduce duplication of research. As it becomes more simplified, more individuals and families will get involved in direct-line research. Through this we hope to see a larger ratio of member-submitted names going to the temple. As local priesthood leaders give more emphasis to these matters, we expect more progress to be made in research, temple attendance, and personal and family history writing.

Increased support is also being given to the branch genealogical library program. An updated edition of the computer-produced genealogical library catalog on microfiche is being distributed to all branch libraries. Library reference aids are being adapted for use at branch libraries. Key resources such as the 1880 and 1900 U.S. censuses and the family group records collection have been made available for microfilm circulation. A selected portion of the main library’s book collection will be distributed to branch libraries on microfiche. In the years to come several major research tools and more of the main library’s research materials will be made available to all branch genealogical libraries.

E: Elder Derrick, what are your personal feelings about genealogical work and the spirit that is involved?

Elder Derrick: There is a growing understanding in the Church as to the importance of temple and genealogical work. When President Kimball stated that redeeming the dead is one of the threefold missions of the Church, members gave this work a higher priority. When members understand the spirit of this work, they realize that it is an essential part of the plan of salvation which the Lord has given us. There is a spirit in this work that is exciting beyond what words can express. Nearly everyone who gets involved feels the spirit and becomes excited about temple and genealogy activities.

I feel that the work we’re doing now is laying a foundation for the great work which is to be done during the Millennium, and that the very things we’ve been talking about today are paramount to building that foundation upon which the work can go forward.