>From: Terry Ann Morgan (terryann2@aol.com) ----------- What's In a Family History Center ------------- Family History Centers (or FHCs) are branches of the Salt Lake City, Utah, Family History Library. They can be found all over the world and are located near or inside buildings of the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints". FHCs are open free to the public and run on a nonprofit basis by volunteers. Nobody will preach to those who attend - just as nobody would disturb you in a "regular" public library. To find one near you, look in your local phonebook for a church and call. Size and hours of each FHC vary. Since they are branches of Salt Lake's Family History (Genealogy) Library, they have the index to all genealogical items there. That index is called the "FHLC" or Family History Library Catalog. It contains 2 main sections. The first section consists of authors, surnames, and subjects of genealogy books. You could look up an ancestor's last name and see if a book had been written about his family and donated to the library. You could also look up a subject such as "Mayflower Descendants" and find what books were written about it. The second section of the FHLC is the Locality Catalog. All kinds of records with genealogical value have been microfilmed. For instance, in any FHC you could look up "Virginia" in the Locality Catalog and see what kinds of records have been microfilmed from there. Records such as birth, marriage, church, probate, land, military, Bible, and more would be listed. You do not have to be in that state to see those records since they can be ordered from Salt Lake City's Family History Library as a temporary rental to use in your FHC for a small shipping and handling fee of about $3. They will be kept at your local FHC for about 3 weeks (longer times are available) for you to come view on microfilm or microfiche. Other countries that have let the LDS Church come in and microfilm are accessable just as easily. You could look up German, English, Canadian, etc., records. The FHLC is on microfiche and also CD-ROMs for FHCs equipped with computers. Another useful file is the IGI (International Genealogical Index). This consists soley of names. You could look up an ancestor's name and see if it had been previously researched and submitted to us. If you find the name listed, you could save hours of research. Along with the name will be birth or marriage information and a place that event took place. This file is also available on microfiche or CD-ROMs. A CD-ROM search can be done from the Military Death Index. This government-created file lists people who died either in the Korean or Vietnam Wars. If you find a name here, you can get some more information about them. This index was released into the public domain by the U.S. Government. Other indexes are available as you look for your ancestors. The "Family Registry" can be very helpful. This fiche file consists of names people are working on and a registry of family organizations or of people wanting to start one. For example, if you wish to have contact with all the people named "Smith", you could start a family organization and advertise it for free here. If you are looking for a specific person such as John Smith, born in Australia in 1875, you could also register him. Contributions to this file are free. (I found 4 relatives myself here!) Other people will then see the name you are working on and copy your address. Another microfiche file found in many FHCs is the AIS (Accelerated Indexing Systems). This is a census index for the United States. If you have an ancestor who lived in the U.S., but you have no idea what state, looking in this microfiche file could help. If you find his name, you will get a census place, year, and even page number. The census film could then be ordered from the FHC, if desired. The AIS is particularly useful for finding people who lived in the mid-1800s, but census years from 1906 (and some mortality schedules) and earlier are listed. If the FHC is equipped with a CD-ROM computer, more files can be searched. (Some indexes discussed here are available only on microfiche and some only on CD-ROMs and some on both). One CD-ROM-only file is the "Social Security Death Index", another public domain file from the U.S. Government. If a person died between 1937 and 1988 and had a Social Security number (and his death was reported to the S.S. office), you could look him up here. You DON'T need to know the S.S. number, only a name or part of a name. Another large CD-ROM file is the "Ancestral File on CD". This is a good place to start or check on your first visit to an FHC. It consists of pedigree charts and group sheets on millions of names. If your ancestor is here, you can get descendants' addresses and their pedigree charts. Keep in mind that this is only an "opinion" file. These charts were donated by others - they are only as accurate as the submitters wrote them. A new feature has been added where you can submit corrections to this index which then appear on a future update. Don't forget to check the FHC reference books. Of special use are the "Research Guides". If, for example, you are researching names in Kentucky, you could read the Research Guide for Kentucky. It will tell you about when and what kind of records were kept there, names and addresses of genealogical societies and MORE! Don't overlook these valuable booklets. Other books may be on hand such as the "Handybook for Genealogists" or "The Source". ----Terry Ann in Alabama, an FHC Director in Alabama ------------------------- >From: Jim Meyer Copyright Questions and Answers Extracted from the FamilySearch Administrative Guide, Copyright 1990, 1991 by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Third Edition. Pages 12-13. Q: Why is FamilySearch copyrighted? A: FamilySearch is copyrighted in order to make certain it is used appropriately. Q: Are some of the files available with FamilySearch--Ancestral File, International Genealogyical Index, Family History Library Catalog--also copyrighted? A: Yes, they, are. Q: Why are these files copyrighted? A: These files are copyrighted for the same reasons as the FamilySearch program: to make certain they are used appropriately. In addition, Ancestral File, unlike the other two files, primarily consists of *donanted* information, given by tens of thousands of people worldwide. We copyright this file in order to protect their underlying rights and prevent misuse of the file. Q: How can this informaiton be copyrighted? Isn't much of it from public records and, therefore, in the public domain? A: Many of the original records are in the public domain. But the Church is not claiming copyright to the original records. The Church's copyright covers only this index to those records, which by drawing on many different records and reordering the information found in them, qualifies as an original work under U.S. copyright law and therefore can be copyrighted. For example, from a commercial point of view the International Genealogical Index--an alphabetically arranged index containng tens of millions of names, dates, and places from many vital records worldwide--could be extremely valuable. A company owning such an index could charge a great deal for use of it and for copies of it. The Church does not. **The Church's sole purpose in claiming copyright to this file is to safeguard the file from commercial exploitation.** Q: Suppose I contributed information about my ancesttors to Ancestral File. Would the Church's copyright of Ancestral File limit what I could do with that information? A: Not at all. The Church's copyright claim in no way affects your underlying copyright of the information you ccontributed to the file. In fact, it does quite the opposite: your right to use your contributed information is protected by the Church's copyright. To make this clear, special messages appear on the FamilySearch screen when users download information to diskette and on the cover sheet for laser printouts. These messages specify that contributors to Ancestral File are *not restricted* by the Church's copyright of the file. They may publish their information and make other comercial use of it if they wish. But the Church does restrict them from using any other information they may find in the file for anything other than their own personal use or the personal use of someone who has hired them to do research. Q: Does the restriction about personal use mean that I can't publish information found in Ancestral File? A: No, it does not. In the first place, under the fair use clause of the copyright law, you may reproduce part of a copyrighted work for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research (Section 107, Title 17, US Code). In our opinion, copies of a few pages from Ancestral File for a history printed for your family or for a genealogical society would be a fair use. So would a small number of copies for classroom use. On the other hand, copies of a large number of pages for a history that would be sold commercially would require prior permission from the Church. In addition, if you wish to reproduce more than what seems to be allowed under the fair use clause, please write and ask for permission to do so. Requests for permission to reproduce the Church's copyrighted family history materials are welcomed. Please direct questions regarding copyright or requests for permission to reproduce any of the Church's copyrighted family history materials to the following address: Copyrights and Permissions Coordinator Family History Department 50 East North Temple Street Salt Lake City, UT 84150 Q: Why are some Family Search files (such as the Social Security Death Index) *not* copyrighted? A: These files are copies of public domain files collected by the federal government. Accordingly, information from these files may be copied freely. Q: May I make copies of printed instructional materials that support Family Search? A: All instructional materials produced by the Church to support Family Search are copyrighted. Family history centers and other local Church units may copy these instructions as needed. Copy the entire documents, including the copyright notice. Other users of FamilySearch may copy these instructions as provided in their license agreement. Genealogical societies, newsletter editors, and others not affiliated with the Church must obtian permission to produce copies for any publications or activities that are not sponsored by the Church. Permission in usually given for legitimate, nonprofit purposes. To request permission, send a brief letter to the copyrights and permissions coordinator at the address above. The letter should include the purpose of the request, how many copies will be made, how and when the copies will be distributed, and how much will be charged for each copy.