Have you ever indexed FamilySearch historical records? If so, you’ve been part of a vast team of volunteers who have helped people find their family.
Before indexing, finding family in historical records often meant long hours of scrolling through microfilm or scanning microfiche. Indexing changed all that. Indexers transcribed key information from historical records, which was compiled into a searchable database, making it exponentially faster and easier to find family in historical records.
The history of indexing is fascinating. It’s a story of commitment and innovation, of overcoming obstacles and experiencing miracles. Let’s see how this remarkable effort began and grew over the years.
The Start of Something Great
Making information findable is a top priority for those who gather and preserve family history records. This priority was certainly true for early members of the Genealogical Society of Utah—the organization that would later become FamilySearch.
Founded in 1894, the society’s goals included “maintaining a genealogical library for the benefit of Society members and others.” This goal prompted society leaders Joseph Fielding Smith and Joseph Christenson to visit genealogical libraries in the eastern United States to examine card catalogs, filing systems, and index systems. Upon their return, they put their new knowledge to good use to index the society’s rapidly growing library collections. Their efforts received high praise from a visiting genealogist from Chicago, who said their indexing system was “the finest he had ever seen.” Their accomplishments helped lay the groundwork for future indexing efforts.
One of the earliest indexing projects (though it wasn’t labeled as such) took place in the 1950s. The society sponsored a project for volunteers to transcribe information from grave markers. Without the benefit of computers, internet access, or mobile devices, people in many locations transcribed information from hundreds of cemeteries. This information was added to the society’s library collection, giving patrons access to information that would have been difficult or impossible to obtain before.
Harnessing Technology
Indexing continued in the 1960s with an initiative known as the Records Tabulation program, or R-Tab. Initially, society members typed names from historical records on index cards. However, it soon became apparent that new technologies could speed up this valuable but time-consuming task.
One of the first new tools to be used was the flexowriter, a typewriter that could produce output on punched paper tapes. The data on the tapes was transferred to a magnetic tape, which was then fed into a computer—an exciting step forward and a precursor of things to come.
To improve accuracy, each historical record was indexed by 2 volunteers. The computer compared the two indexes and provided a list of differences for investigation and reconciliation.
Volunteer Power
Even with the efficiencies brought by new technologies, the task ahead required many additional volunteers. In 1962, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began calling volunteer missionaries to do indexing—or “name extraction,” as it was then called. Some missionaries transcribed information longhand, and some learned to use flexowriters. In time, volunteers were able to enter information directly into computer terminals, and flexowriters were no longer needed.
The year 1978 saw further expansion of the indexing effort as volunteer members of the Church (both inside and outside of Utah) were asked to participate in name extraction at the stake level. This effort was further expanded in 1986 with family record extraction, which allowed individuals to do name extraction at home. Volunteers were provided with photocopies of historical records, which they indexed manually. Indexed data was entered into computers at stake centers and saved to diskettes, which were then sent to Salt Lake to be added to a central database. Stake and family record extraction were combined in 1994.
Indexing Meets the Internet
At this point, even with help from technology, indexing was a complicated effort with many manual steps. Historian Kahlile B. Mehr described the process:
“Staff and missionaries at Church headquarters burned images from a single microfilm onto several compact discs and mailed them out. On the receiving end, stake extraction directors would break down a batch further and travel to each home to copy the images to an indexer’s computer and then return to pick up the index data of a completed batch. Then the directors would have to return the data to headquarters. That piece of the process was improved in 2001, as stake directors began to email indexing data back to headquarters. Still, most of the process remained manual.”
The next natural step in the quest for efficiency was to provide volunteers with a desktop indexing program that allowed indexed data to be submitted via the internet. The first version of FamilySearch indexing debuted in 2005 and radically changed both the method and speed of indexing.
At this time, FamilySearch also invited members of the wider genealogical community to participate in indexing, rather than just recruiting volunteers from Church membership.
It didn’t take long for dramatic improvements to become obvious. It had taken 17 years to index the 50 million names in the 1880 United States census. In contrast, indexing the 76.2 million names in the 1900 United States census took only 11 months in 2006 and 2007. And in 2012, indexing the 132 million names in the 1940 United States census took only 4 months.
FamilySearch passed another major milestone in early 2017, when indexing transitioned to a web-based system, making it even easier for volunteers to participate. Now volunteers didn’t have to worry about installing or upgrading indexing software; anyone with a browser and an internet connection could contribute.
Supporting Volunteers
As FamilySearch’s emphasis on indexing continued over the years, they discovered an unexpected discrepancy—of those who registered to do indexing, only a small percentage were actively contributing. This fact led FamilySearch to look for ways to educate, motivate, and recognize indexers for the valuable work they were doing. A monthly email that started in 2010 offered advice and recognized achievements. FamilySearch blog articles and training videos taught basic concepts and addressed potential issues.
FamilySearch also highlighted indexer contributions by sharing heartwarming feedback from patrons who found family in indexed records:
- “I am truly amazed by what you can do today on family history from the comfort of your own home. I thought I would have to make an expensive trip to help solve one of my brick walls but instead stumbled across an indexed record that helped me in my search. Very grateful for all the effort put into this by so many people!”
- “THANK YOU! To everyone that has entered Nova Scotia records—Cape Breton area specifically, I thank thee! Aye, my Scottish roots have been confirmed. I began my family tree 18 years ago and got stuck pretty quickly. I started it back up earlier this year and was in awe at how much was now available online. In 3 months, I have found ancestors back over 200 years.”
- “For years, I could not progress in my family search, mainly because I live in a different country. Then one day this new feature came up with possible connections due to indexing, and I was able to make breakthroughs. Thank you.”
- “I have found my beloved Czech ancestors. I am in tears. . . . God bless every single person instrumental in this miracle.”
In 2019, FamilySearch added a way for people who used indexed records to send a message to thank the specific volunteers who did the indexing.
Making History with Indexing Events
Part of the fun of being a volunteer is connecting with other volunteers. On 1–2 July 2012, FamilySearch sponsored its first major indexing event, which involved participants from around the world. Final counts revealed that almost 50,000 volunteers worked together to index and arbitrate over 10.3 million records.
Worldwide indexing events followed annually from 2014 through 2017, with similar success. In 2017, almost 80,000 volunteers from 116 countries indexed over 7 million records.
Over time, the emphasis shifted from a single annual worldwide event to ongoing local events. FamilySearch provided guidance and support, but the true initiative was in the hands of local indexing enthusiasts. The result was a broad range of activities all around the world, such as a youth indexing initiative in Tonga, a million-name challenge in Northampton, England, service by inmates in Kane County, Utah, and an “Indexing-mania” youth initiative in Mexico.
Expanding Languages for Indexing
As indexing gained momentum, a language gap became apparent. In 2015, FamilySearch offered about 20 times more records in English than in all other languages combined. So the call went out for volunteers who could index in languages other than English.
Thanks to thousands of linguistically talented volunteers, that gap has narrowed substantially. A look at the record collections currently in FamilySearch historical records shows that roughly 60 percent of its 20.5 billion records are from countries where languages other than English are spoken. As FamilySearch expands its record collections and global reach, we can expect more and more records to become available from around the world.
Indexing Evolves with Get Involved
A new volunteer platform, Get Involved, was announced at RootsTech 2022. Available for web and mobile, the platform provides a variety of volunteer projects. Indexing was added to the Get Involved platform.
In April 2022, shortly after the RootsTech announcement, FamilySearch launched a Get Involved project for the 1950 United States census. Unlike previous census indexing projects, this one began with an index generated by artificial intelligence (AI), which volunteers reviewed for accuracy. In just 3 months, over 185,000 volunteers reviewed over 151 million names. This project was also unique because volunteers were able to choose names of interest to review.
Overall, the project was a success, although it was not without challenges. But FamilySearch committed to improve future experiences based on lessons learned from this project.
How Indexing Impacted Volunteers
For volunteers, indexing was more than a genealogical task or an interesting pastime. It was a source of peace, enjoyment, and even miracles.
One man indexed records during his free time while working away from home in Iraq. For him, indexing was “relaxing and satisfying.” Another man found purpose during his battle with cancer as he indexed in his hospital room.
A mother recounted how indexing was a blessing to her special-needs daughter, who began spending more time with family members instead of in her room. Indexing helped a family stay connected during the COVID-19 pandemic as they drew strength from each other and from the past.
For some, indexing provided a simple, safe way to learn more about historical records, giving them greater confidence in doing their own family history. Some volunteers even found people to add to their own family trees. One indexer noticed an ancestor in her tree with no spouse. She was quickly able to discover his marriage record—one that hadn’t been found previously because it had just recently been indexed. Imagine her surprise when she saw that she had helped index the collection that included the marriage record. “I never dreamed it would benefit me personally,” she said.
Ashley, a 16-year-old volunteer, summed it up well: “Indexing taught me that some of the most important things we can do are simple, small things that make a big difference.”
Where We Are Today and What the Future Holds
Contributions over the last 2 decades are astonishing. From 2005 (when the FamilySearch indexing desktop program was released) until the end of 2024, over 1.5 million volunteers from around the world have completed almost 4,000 indexing projects. These projects covered 100 countries and 28 languages. The result? Over 5 billion records were indexed and made available to people searching for their families.
Ron Sanders, a product manager at FamilySearch, shared his observations about indexing:
“It’s inspiring to reflect on how far our indexing processes have come. . . . [Past programs have] built upon one another, incorporating the best available technologies at every stage. Where we once relied solely on manual, volunteer-driven efforts, we’ve since seen extraordinary technical advancements that augment human efforts. These innovations have transformed the scale, speed, and efficiency of our work. . . .
“Indexing will continue to evolve, with computer-assisted indexing becoming a more efficient method of making an initial pass at transcribing records and volunteers efficiently making corrections. The Get Involved website and the exciting advances in computer-assisted indexing are the gateway to the future of indexing.”
You may be wondering, are volunteers still needed? Absolutely! Technology has changed—and dramatically accelerated—the availability and searchability of historical records. There will be advancements ahead that we can hardly dream of now. People will still make unique contributions that can’t be duplicated by technological tools, no matter how advanced. The best technology can’t replace human judgment, intuition, and especially connection.
There is still plenty of work to do as we continue to make strides toward FamilySearch’s goal of indexing as many of the world’s records as possible and helping people connect with their family. We hope you’ll join us!
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At FamilySearch, we care about connecting you with your family, and we provide fun discovery experiences and family history services for free. Why? Because we cherish families and believe that connecting generations can improve our lives now and forever. We are a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To learn more about our beliefs, click here.
