Family History Center

History

The Salt Lake City Genealogical Library was founded in 1894 to gather genealogical records and assist members of the LDS Church with their family history and genealogical research. It is the largest library of its kind in the world. It is open to the general public at no charge. The FSL is visited by an estimated 1,900 or more individual patrons each day. By 1975, there were 17 "branch libraries" around the world.

The library collection has 2.4 million rolls of FSL microfilmed genealogical records and more than 742,000 microfiches in the main system. In 2003, the collection increased monthly by an average of 4,100 rolls of film, 700 books, and 16 electronic resources. A majority of the records contain information about persons who lived before 1930. Approximately 200 cameras are currently microfilming records in more than 45 countries. Records have been filmed in more than 110 countries, territories, and possessions.

The first FSC, then called a branch genealogical library, was organized in the Harold B. Lee Library (HBLL) at Brigham Young University (BYU) in May 1964. Plans to organize FSCs in Mesa, Arizona, Logan, Utah, Cardston, Alberta, and Oakland, California, each adjacent to a temples in one of those cities, had been announced at the church's October 1963 general conference.

The FSCs were put under the overall direction of Archibald F. Bennett. By December 1964, there were 29 FSCs, and by 1968, there were 75. In 1987, these institutions were renamed "Family History Centers." On January 10, 2023, the LDS Church announced that Family History Centers would be known as FamilySearch Centers.

BYU Family History Library

The BYU Family History Library is part of the HBLL at BYU in Provo, Utah. The BYU FHL was one of the original planned FSCs and is the largest FHC outside of Salt Lake City. It was formerly known as the Utah Valley Regional Family History Center. It is now semi-independent of the LDS Church's FSC system.