Saturday, June 19, 2010

Riverton FamilySearch Library Open House Wrap-up


I was able to attend the Riverton FamilySearch Library Open House Thursday afternoon. It is a state-of-the-art family history research center equipped with a variety of resources.  I brought a camera with me to take pictures but ended up not taking any.  (I have never been the photographer in our family.)  I was so tickled to see that Sue Maxwell took wonderful pictures of the building and you can enjoy them on her blog "Granite Genealogy" Visit to the Riverton FamilySearch Library Open House.

Before opening the Riverton FamilySearch Library they conducted a survey of the films ordered from the recently closed, surrounding 22 Family History Centers. The library then ordered 50,000 highly requested films from, England, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Massachusetts. I like the idea of them having New York films there.  That is going to be way nice for me.

You can order films from Salt Lake for the reduced price of $2.50 per roll.  If you renew it twice after that the film will stay on indefinite loan. If you order your film before 12pm noon, it will be waiting for you at noon the next day.

There is a website for the Riverton FamilySearch Library at http://familysearch.org/fhc/riverton/ . Not only can you find a list of films available there but also a lists of classes. They will be holding conferences there too.

Here's a taste of what's coming
  • June 24-25 Large Family History Director Conference
  • July 17 Saturday Seminar 9-12
  • Aug 21 Saturday Seminar 9-12
  • Sep 18 Saturday Seminar 9-12
  • Oct 15-16 1st Riverton FamilySearch Library Conference
  • Nov 20 Saturday Seminar 9-12
Research Workshop 2010 -  Runs each Thursday evening at 7 PM, through September 9th
  • June 24 Vital Records
  • July 1 Maps
  • July 8 Land Records
  • July 15 Probate Records
  • July 22 Church Records
  • July 29 LDS Church Records
  • Aug 5 Military - Early Wars to Civil War
  • Aug 12 Military - Late Wars, Civil War to Present Day
  • Aug 19, 26 Emigration Records
  • Sept 2 Naturalization, Paleography, Old Handwriting
  • Sept 9 Advanced Class - Migration, New England, Southern, Mid Atlantic, Mid Western
The computers in the Library all have the same desktop you will find in the Salt Lake Family History Library.  It also means all the same paid websites available in Salt Lake can be found in Riverton too.  For a complete listing of the websites click here. I was personally tickled to see Ancestry and New England Historical Genealogical Society's websites available for free.

It's getting to be a bit more than a rumor that more of these "Regional FamilySearch Libraries" are coming. Family Search PLEASE pick American Fork for your next location!

They showed the Church videos of the Granite Mountain Records Vault from the NGS conference.  You could also view all the videos from "A Celebration of Family History".  When I went to watch a couple, I noticed the worker put in a professional CD with all those videos on it.  Man I hope they come out with them at the Distribution Center.

I am posting some of the videos in my blog so you can view them.

From NGS Conference Opening Sessions by Jay Verkler, CEO of FamilySearch

The Granite Mountain Vault - Part 1

The Granite Mountain Vault - Part 2

In 2004 a cyclone struck the island of Niue, destroying all vital records. FamilySearch had filmed the records and was able to provide a copy of the original records to the island.


From "A Celebration of Family History"

Woven Generations

Searching for Emma

Letters from Estonia

Clan McCloud


See ya tomorrow, for tomorrow is always another genealogy day!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

As usual, love it - but, where are the videos?

LaVerne

Renee Zamora said...

It might take a minute for them to load on the page. What browser are you using that you can not see them? I am able to see it in Google Chrome's browser.