Marlene Hernandez, a 12-year-old from Venezuela, lost her mother around the time she converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Soon she developed a passion for researching her own family tree. After interviewing her family, she compiled the information into a book.
But when I moved to the United States as an adult, I lost the book and thought I might never be able to get the information back. One day while she was working as a computer scientist, she decided to take her two weeks off and see what she could find at her family history library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Unexpectedly, Ms. Hernandez found all of her previously lost information and more.
The record Hernandez found is one of more than 5 billion digital record images published on FamilySearch since its inception in 1999.
Behind these numbers, a team of curators in Salt Lake City (from as far as South Korea and Kazakhstan, and Hernandez has joined them) is overseeing the global digitization of records, and in the process, the “Hand of God” They say they have seen miracles performed. Try to “hurry up the work”.
hurry up the work
At RootsTech on February 29th, FamilySearch curators Hernandez, Sean Canney, Hyewon Lee, Megan McClanahan, Irina Anderson and Katie Poppleton announced a collection of more than 30 new and upcoming records. . These collections of digital images and searchable names come from over a dozen countries. FamilySearch's free database of searchable names and images from historical records grew from 16.88 billion in 2022 to 18.36 billion in 2023.
“We're working hard to expedite our work. We want everyone in the world to have access to these records,” said Canney, FamilySearch's global account manager. Masu.
Canny credits computer-assisted indexing as the main contributor to the steady increase in searchable names. The 1931 Canadian Census, released in 2023, was fully indexed by artificial intelligence applied by Ancestry.com and data verified by FamilySearch.
Although the majority of indexing is still done by humans, FamilySearch's goal is to eventually send all images through computer-assisted indexing (CAI).
However, AI can only replace part of the process. The pipeline to publication begins with an on-site account manager and field relations manager, overseen by a curation manager in Salt Lake City, who locate records of interest and initiate contact with archivists.
“They'll go to the archives and say, 'We'd like to digitize your collection and make it available for free on our website,'” Canny said.
FamilySearch caters to organizations that want to keep their records on their own platform, and nonprofits often agree to use links to direct readers to other platforms.
“After a certain period of time, it may show up in Family Search or it may be shared,” said McClanahan, digital collection curation manager. Find and build their family tree. ”
hand of the lord
McClanahan spends much of his time helping corporate partners negotiate contracts. FamilySearch employees are encouraged to pray for their projects, which she says is key to overcoming the seemingly insurmountable obstacles that sometimes arise during negotiations. .
“I absolutely know this is the handiwork of the Lord,” McClanahan said. The next morning, their minds were changed. ”
Canney said the curators' goal is to increase documentary coverage of areas where new temples are being developed, which “lights a fire underneath[them].”
“We want them to feel the spirit of Elijah” and take his last name to the temple, he said.
He believes that 19 temples have been announced or are under construction in Africa and the Middle East, and although recent promising developments encourage him, he considers any publication of records for these locations to be a miracle. ing.
FamilySearch recently released late 19th and early 20th century population registers from Nablus, in what is now the West Bank.
In the coming years, records of Ottoman Palestine, records of the Catholic Church in Syria, Egypt, and Tunisia, records of the Jewish community in Israel, records of the Chaldean Church, records of the Maronites of Lebanon, and Kurdish oral history will be published. It is scheduled to be done.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, FamilySearch workers completed the digitization of national identity documents as early as 1884, a week before floods destroyed the archives.
“Those are miracles to me,” Canny said, adding, “I believe the Holy Spirit is our collaborator in this work. … And the names we are digitizing, the lives of these people. , I believe they are important. And every one of them has the right to be remembered.”
keep
The destruction of physical records around the world, either by natural disasters, poor maintenance, or administrators wanting to free up space, is a major concern for curators.
McClanahan remembers seeing the photo in the Italian archives. There, records were stacked on top of the toilet. Additionally, many historical records were imaged using microfilm, which loses detail in black-and-white images, especially when copies are made.
Urgency provides an incentive to digitize records even if they cannot be published immediately.
Data privacy laws in many Asian countries make it difficult to release records.
Lee, the Asian curator, said these countries are now digitizing many of their records to preserve files and protect data from information loss while awaiting permission to release documents.
Lee, who is from South Korea, began studying her family's history at an early age using Korean genealogy books called jokbo. She started her career in her church's archives and took her current position four years ago.
guided by one's role
In 2023, Lee told her friend Irina Andersson that she would be helping out at Rootstech. Anderson, a member of the church's global ministries finance team, quickly turned her curiosity about the event into an urge that FamilySearch was where she belonged, joining in August and now working in Central Europe. and works as a curator of Scandinavia. The longer she stays in that role, she says, the more she feels that God wants her to be there.
Anderson was born in Kazakhstan but grew up in Ukraine for 10 years, and her family joined the church when she was 5 years old. After a few years, her father felt inspired to move her family back to Kazakhstan to help her build a church. They became the country's first indigenous family when they settled in the capital, Astana. There are currently no published records from Kazakhstan, but Anderson hopes that will change someday.
“I hope that in some way the fact that I'm from that part of the world helps us get those records. I want to build a family (tree). ,” Anderson said.
She is encouraged by the successes she has witnessed in other parts of the former Soviet Union. FamilySearch recently released Ukrainian filter records, records of disloyal Ukrainians imprisoned by the former Soviet Union between 1943 and 1952. Because records must be at least 75 years old, these are some of the only records released in Ukraine that include survivors, Anderson said. The old ones will be published according to the laws of the country.
“I feel like Heavenly Father is preparing the way” for the record release in Kazakhstan, she said.
Canny also feels that God led her into this job, which has led her to consider family history “the greatest job on earth.”
“The Doctrine and Covenants (128:24) says that when Christ comes, we are to present a record of the dead worthy of all acceptance.”
He said the team often recalls 1 Nephi 21:8-9, which tells of God releasing those in spiritual prison and giving them an inheritance.
“That is our focus and we definitely see the hand of God in this effort.”