FamilySearch Historical Record Collections
FamilySearch Historical Records provides online access to indexes and digital images of records held by FamilySearch. The collections can be accessed at Historical Record Collections. New collections are uploaded weekly.
Searching the Collections
The FamilySearch Search page is divided into three sections:
- Search Historical Records
- Research By Location
- Find a Collection
Search Historical Records
This section will allow you to search all of the collections indexed on FamilySearch at once. You can specify life events, places, and relationships or film number to refine your search.
Research By Location
Selecting a country in this section will show online lessons you can take, links to indexed and image-only collections, indexing projects, and titles from the FamilySearch Catalog.
Find a Collection
This is where you will find a list of all collections available on FamilySearch. You can limit the collections displayed to a specific country, date range, or record type.
Exact Search
Some search fields have a checkbox next to them. Checking this box will limit search results to records that match this term exactly. You can also check the Match all terms exactly box next to the Search button if you want to apply an exact search on all terms. You will want to experiment with these different options to see how the results change. No Soundex search available on any collection.
For more tips on searching on FamilySearch see the post on the Brit-Ish Heritage Forum blog, Eleven Powerful "Search" Features of the FamilySearch.org Search Engine.
Collection Descriptions
For each collection, there is a brief collection Description, as well as a link titled "Learn More" which links to further information about the collection on the Research Wiki. Collections descriptions on the Research Wiki are signified by "(FamilySearch Historical Records)" at the end of the title. Additional information about the collections may also be found in the Wiki articles listed under the "Related Wiki Articles" heading.
Locating the Latest Updates
Updated records are posted directly to the Historical Record Collections as they are completed. To see the latest collection updates and publications, click on the Last Updated column heading. Content is updated weekly, so check back often to see if the newly added records can help you!
FamilySearch Indexing
FamilySearch invites everyone to volunteer in indexing records to make the information more quickly available. Learn more about what projects are available go to the Indexing Overview.
FamilySearch Blog
For more information about FamilySearch and to learn about new Historical Records publications read the FamilySearch Blog.
