New Family Registry to Eliminate Duplication

The Church’s Genealogical Department is offering a new no-cost Family Registry service to help genealogists coordinate their efforts.

The Family Registry is a way for genealogists to find out what others are doing and to let others know about their own research. Those who are working in the same research areas can share information and coordinate their work, thus saving time and expense and helping each other gather more accurate information.

Not everyone should register—only those who are actively doing genealogical research and are willing to share information. If you register, you are expected to respond to others who wish to coordinate their research with you.

Family organizations may also register. If your organization is planned but not formed, the registry will help you locate others who may be interested in joining with you.

Registration forms are available at the main library in Salt Lake City and at branch genealogical libraries in the United States and Canada. They may also be obtained by writing to: Genealogical Department Family Registry; Fourth Floor, West Wing; 50 E. North Temple Street; Salt Lake City, Utah 84150; USA.

The completed forms will be microfilmed. Then, when enough information has been submitted to make the registry a useful research tool (probably by mid-1984), microfiche copies of these forms and an index of the registry will be made available at branch libraries. Individual requests for information sent to the main library in Salt Lake City will also be accepted.

Both registration and inquiry services are free of charge.

The Family Registry is an interim service whose functions will eventually be absorbed into the department’s Ancestral File when that file becomes available. The Ancestral File is a large and complex computerized system being developed to handle all data from pedigree charts and family group records submitted since 1978, when new emphasis was placed on accuracy in genealogical record-keeping.