Family History Library (FHL)

The Family History Library (FHL), the largest genealogical library in the world, is located in the Salt Lake City, Utah. It is operated and maintained by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the headquarters of which are located in the city. The library is open to the general public and admission is free for all.

As many as 4,000 branches of the library, known as the Family History Centers (FHCs), are functioning at present in 88 different countries. The library was founded in 1894 with the aim of fulfilling one of the primary tenets of the church, which states that the church members can be baptized into the church in behalf of their deceased family members so that they may receive salvation. Moreover, other ordinances can also be performed in Temples for the dead.
At present, the library occupies an area of 142,000 square feet (13191.8 square-m) and has five floors. It houses several genealogical records for more than 110 territories, countries, and possessions. Its unique collections comprise of over 2.4 million rolls of microfilmed genealogical records; 310,000 books, serials, and other formats; 742,000 microfiche; 4,500 periodicals; and 700 electronic resources. The entire microfilm collection will be digitized by 2012.

Besides, a number of professional genealogists at the Church provide assistance to all those who visit the library to trace their own family history. In fact, this Library has the largest group of credentialed genealogists in the world who offer assistance in 30 different languages. Also, free one-on-one consultations on difficult research problems are offered to the visitors. In addition, many free training classes on genealogical research topics and research series of classes on one particular subject area are organized for the general public.

• Address: 35 NW Temple Street, Room 344, Salt Lake City, UT 84150
• Telephone: (801) 240-2584 or (866) 406-1830
• Website: www.familysearch.org