Picked this up from another list. Lengthy but informative. ------------------------------------- >This was found at http://www.msnbc.com/news/246411.asp > > THE NEW WEB SITE (www.familysearch.org) won't officially >launch until mid-April, but it is expected to "go live" for testing any >day > now. Church officials originally planned to leave the site open to all >during >he test period. But for fear of being swamped, they now may limit access >to >official testers with assigned passwords. The Church of Jesus Christ of >Latter-day Saints collects genealogical records of all kinds because >the >Mormons believe it is important to perform religious rites on behalf of >dead ancestors. It has the world's largest collection of such data. >Genealogy is one of the most popular subjects on the Internet. As more >information goes online, it seems to create more genealogists. About 100 >million Americans have at least dabbled in it, and 19 million actively > research their family history, according to a 1995 Maritz Marketing >Research study for American Demographics magazine. > Rootsweb (www.rootsweb.org) has more than 200,000 subscribers to >3,000 e-mail lists about genealogy. The number of subscribers is >growing >rapidly, according to John V. Wylie, a professional genealogist from >Grand Prairie, Texas. Wylie is a co-founder of GENTECH >(www.gentech.org), >a non-profit society to help genealogists use technology. Mormon Church >officials are vague about what Web surfers can >expect to find on their new site, but that hasn't dampened genealogists' >enthusiasm. > >I think the reaction is probably going to be unanimously, 'Wow! >It's about time!"' said Marthe Arends, editor of the newsletter Pioneers > Online (www.eskimo.com/~mnarends), based in Bellevue, Wash. The >newsletter helps genealogists use the Internet. With 2.1 million rolls >of >microfilm, 700,000 microfiches and 280,000 books, the Church of Jesus >Christ of Latter-day Saints (www.lds.org) is the ultimate source for >many >genealogists. The master > collection, which includes the birth, death and marriage records of an >estimated 6 billion people, is kept in a vault carved 900 feet into the >side of > Granite Mountain. Completed in 1964, the vault is a testament to the >importance the > Church places on tracing one's ancestors and performing for them >vicarious > ordinances of baptism and marriage so that those who lived and died >before > Joseph Smith founded the church in 1830 can enjoy the benefits of God's > grace. The vault contains six separate chambers, each 200 feet long, >30 >feet > wide and 15 feet tall. The entire vault, dug into the side of the >canyon, >lies > 800 to 900 feet under the mountaintop. The microfilm records are >maintained at a temperature below 70 degrees Fahrenheit and at a >humidity >below 35 percent. Due to the need for a controlled environment, visitors >are >not permitted, but MSNBC's 360-degree surround video gives you a sense > of what one sees at the mouth of the vault. > Anyone can use the materials at the Family History Library in Salt >Lake City free of charge. They may also borrow materials for a small >handling fee at any one of the library's 3,200 branches. A tiny, but >important portion of that is available by computer. In 1978, the church >began computerizing some of its records in a program dubbed >FamilySearch. >The program is currently only offered at libraries and branch >libraries. The church won't sell FamilySearch to individuals because it >can't afford to offer everyone support for DOS, the older operating >system the program requires. That makes it the perfect candidate for >putting on the Web. With 2 billion rolls of microfilm, 700,000 >microfiches and 280,000 books, the Church of Jesus Christ of >Latter-day >Saints (www.lds.org) is the ultimate source for many genealogists. >One >of the first FamilySearch databases expected to be offered on line is >Ancestral File. The simple database lets surfers type in names and >find >family trees compiled by other researchers, mostly amateurs. As useful >as >that can be, the information is only as good as the person who >submitted >it," said Arends. "I'd personaly like to see more primary sources being >put online." The International Genealogical Index, also part of >FamilySearch, lets researchers search millions of marriage, death and >birth records taken from records in the United States and abroad. The >church won't say if the index will be offered on the Web site. Even with >thousands of church volunteers typing the information from original >records >into computers, "We can digitize only a tiny fraction of what we >capture >each year," said David Rencher, manager of public outreach for the >Family >History Department of the Mormon Church. Still, the output is >impressive. >Over the past year, the church not only updated FamilySearch, but also >released five sets of CD-ROMs reaching back 450 years and ranging from >Australian Vital Records to the 1851 British Census. In 1999, it will >release the full 1880 U.S. Census and the 1881 British Census, both on >CD-ROM. Church volunteers are also working on a 17 million-person >database > of Ellis Island immigrants that will be released on CD-ROM by the >church, >posted online by the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation >(www.ellisisland.org) and made available at the new American Family > Immigrant History Center due to open late next year on Ellis Island. > >