New York City New York Family History Center

The FHC has reopened! Operating hours will be limited until more staffing is available, so please check below for the latest schedule.
Free one-on-one family history instruction is still available via Zoom. Sign up for a free appointment here. Due to copyright agreements, the Zoom session cannot give remote access to the Family History Center computers or the NYC vital records, but our staff will be happy to teach you how to research your family tree.

[[Image:Manhattan-new-york-808x480-AV051230 cah005.jpg|400px|Manhattan-new-york-808x480-AV051230 cah005.jpg]]
Address: 125 Columbus Ave 1st Floor New York NY 10023   Location Map

Phone:    212-799-2414

E-mail:    [mailto:NY_NewYorkCity@familyhistorymail.org NY_NewYorkCity@familyhistorymail.org]

 Below Services in smaller italic font are temporarily unavailable as we ramp up staffing following our Covid closure, please check back for further updates: 

Why You Might Want To Visit This Family History Center

 * Experts We have two experts available at all times to provide one-on-one assistance in helping you create a family tree and find records about your ancestors. In addition, volunteers from the community offer the following specialized expertise:
 * Italian                                    Wednesdays 11am-1pm
 * African American                 Thursday 10am-noon
 * Hispanic and Puerto Rican Wednesdays 3pm-6pm, Saturday 10am-noon
 * Jewish                                   Thursdays 6pm-8pm


 * Subscription Websites Several family history websites that require a subscription to use at home, such as Ancestry.com, can be used for free at our center. Visit this link for a complete list: Family History Center Portal


 * New York City Vital Records While most FamilySearch records can be viewed at home, some can only be viewed in a Family History Center. This includes New York City birth records up to 1909, marriage records up to 1939, and death records up to 1949.
 * Computers Eight touch-screen computers are available first come, first served. No appointment needed (or accepted), but we have never turned anyone away. If needed, we may limit research time to two hours.
 * Microfilm Before the internet, much of the data now found in FamilySearch was available on millions of roles of microfilm. FamilySearch has been digitizing 1000 roles of microfilm each day and making the information available online. The process is scheduled to be completed in 2020. Meanwhile, we have over 2,300 microfilms on site, of which 736 have not been digitized as of 20 December 2019. To view a list of the un-digitized microfilms in our permanent collection click here. These microfilms can be viewed on our Canon 200 II Microfilm Reader. You can schedule time to use this reader on this spreadsheet.
 * FREE All services (other than printing) are completely free. We can help you create a free account on FamilySearch that you can continue to use for free at home or on your mobile device.



Volunteer at the Center
Please email us at [mailto:NY_NewYorkCity@familyhistorymail.org NY_NewYorkCity@familyhistorymail.org] if you would like to volunteer your expertise in the center.

Additional Online Resources
The Ackman &amp; Ziff Family Genealogy Institute

FHL inventory at the Center For Jewish History

The Hispanic Genealogical Society of New York

German Genealogy Group

Puerto Rican Ancestry

Polish Genealogical Society of Connecticut and the Northeast

Genealogy Slovakia

Marriage Records-UK

Eastman’s Online Genealogy Blog

Midatlantic Germanic Society

Class Schedule
Click HERE to register on-line