Columbus Georgia Family History Center

In the Columbus Georgia Family History Center (FHC)'', we focus our efforts on the marvelous work of coming to truly know our family history and those who were part of it - including their stories. Our facility and consultants are available to help provide you with the tools to expand your family tree, and more importantly, come to really know who those people were - not just their names, dates, and locations. We stand ready to assist anyone wishing to learn more about their family history.''

NOTICE - EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY:
=== In accordance with Church policies regarding current Church-wide restrictions on public gatherings in Church facilities, the Columbus Georgia Family History Center will be available ONLY on an appointment basis until further notice. Appointments can be scheduled through the main Columbus Georgia Family History Center email address at: ===

columbus_georgia_fhc@mindspring.com
=== Please provide your name, phone number and/or email address, and requested date(s) and time(s). We will do our best to match you with a staff member available on your requested day and time and respond as quickly as possible (please give us at least 2-3 days to coordinate with our staff members vs. your request). We request that patrons schedule appointments only if they are completely healthy, and also that other family members are also free of any possible illnesses (whether Coronavirus-related or not). The FHC will be limited to a maximum of 8 people, including staff at any given time. Members of the Church are encouraged to contact their ward or branch temple and family history consultants for assistance as they continue their family history activities at home. However, the FHC is certainly available for anyone needing to access one of the microfilms in the FHC, or gain access to a document image that is available only at a Family History Center, or to scan a photo or document into their FamilySearch account if they do not have scanning capability at home. Remember that the Chattahoochee Valley Libraries (which includes the Columbus Public Library system) is now a FamilySearch Affiliate Library, and therefore they have access to over 90% of the restricted viewing records not available from home computers. Like the FHC, They also have free access to research on some subscription sites such as Ancestry.com, Fold3, etc. As long as they are able to remain open, they are an excellent alternative to the FHC in many cases, given their greater operating hours and days. The main library on Macon Rd. as well as the North Branch (behind Home Depot) are both staffed with several people that are well qualified to assist you with your family history research, if your ward/branch temple and family history center consultants are unable to assist you in a particular situation. ===

As soon as the Church is able to lift public gathering restrictions, the FHC will resume normally scheduled operating hours.
=Center Contacts and Hours=

Location Map:


 * Location Map

The entrance is located through a separate outside door halfway back on the south side of the building at:

4400 Reese Road

Columbus GA 31907

United States

1-706-563-7216 (during operating hours)

columbus_georgia_fhc@mindspring.com  (for normal email communication with FHC)

- - -

GA_Columbus@familyhistorymail.org (not monitored daily -  DO NOT USE for normal email )

FHC Schedule:

Sunday: 10:00 am - 12:00 noon (except General Conference and Stake Conference weekends)

Tuesday: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

Wednesday: 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Thursday: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

The FHC can also be scheduled for groups, including families, at times other than normal operating hours, including Sunday and Monday evenings. Please contact the FHC Director to schedule a dedicated time for your organization or family.

''Occasionally due to illness or other unforeseen circumstances, the FHC may need to close on short notice. Please call ahead to verify the Center will be open when you are planning to come, particularly if you are coming from a long distance.''

GROUPS & SPECIAL APPOINTMENTS: We request that groups NOT come in during normally scheduled open hours, since we have limited staff members to assist, and with visitors who have come during those open hours, computer space may not be sufficiently available to accommodate groups. HOWEVER - Please contact the FHC Leader by calling the FHC phone during normal hours, in order to schedule a special time for a group session. Be ready to include how many will be coming and what the group wishes to accomplish, in order that staff can be adequately prepared to provide a meaningful experience.

FAMILY GROUPS: Family groups wishing to hold a Family Home Evening in the Family History Center can also schedule a time just for their family. Please contact the FHC Leader by calling the FHC phone number during normal operating hours, and ask to speak with the FHC Leader who will return the call as soon as possible if not currently in the FHC. Family groups are particularly encouraged for either Sunday or Monday evenings. A number of families have had special experiences during such appointments, and the staff is ready to help it fit the needs of each family, including all family members individually.

SCHEDULED CLOSURES: The FHC is closed on major holidays, such as New Years Day, Easter Sunday, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day (July 4th), Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It also is not open on the first full weekend of either April or October due to the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Again, it is recommended that you call the FHC phone number during scheduled operating hours to verify that it is open. We are still short on staff, and with emergencies, illnesses, etc., there are occasional times when the Center is unable to be open during portions of some scheduled operating hours.

Local Community Events:
COLUMBUS PUBLIC LIBRARY:

See the Chattahoochee Valley Libraries site for their schedule of genealogical and family history related classes. They have a good schedule of classes both at the main library on Macon Road as well as at other branches.

MUSCOGEE GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY:

Be sure to check the Society's web site (see below under "Resources in the Local Area") periodically for their informative and helpful programs (generally four per year).

FHC Class Schedule
There are currently no classes scheduled at the FHC. However, see above for classes at the main Columbus Library on Macon Road.

Staff Training Meetings
Stay tuned! Training is in the planning stages for all consultants. When it is done, it will be done thoroughly and correctly.

Collections
There are many books and other resources available. However, they are NOT available for lending purposes. Sadly some important resources have disappeared from the FHC.

Please never remove any books, periodicals, films, etc., from the FHC.

Many people over the years have ordered a large number of microfilms on an indefinite loan basis from the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Beginning in September 2017, no further microfilms can be ordered due to the fact that a large percentage of them have now been digitized and are available on line through FamilySearch. This allows for home use and printing, rather than merely just viewing them with the rather old microfilm readers currently available in the FHC. There is no current plan for eliminating existing microfilms already available in our FHC collection, and adequate notice would be provided if that policy changes.

Databases and Software
The main Church database is FamilySearch. While this is available for free to anyone, anywhere, there is a distinct advantage for using FamilySearch in the FHC on one of our computers. Some collections are restricted by their copyright holders, for example, and the Church is therefore restricted in how it can provide those collections for use. Therefore, even for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, some collections cannot be viewed at home and a notice will inform the user that they will need to be viewed at a FHC computer. Now that all seven of the Chattahoochee Valley Libraries in all four counties are certified as FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries, the vast majority of those restricted records can also be viewed on one of their computers as well. They also currently have Ancestry.com and Fold3 available for research for free.

Additionally, there is a special FHC Portal between the FHC and the Family History Department in Salt Lake City. This center has access to the Family History Center Portal page which gives free access to premium family history software and websites that are only available outside the FHC for a fee (for example, Ancestry.com, Fold3, etc.). While Ancestry.com is also available for free within Georgia public and University-system libraries, the FHC also has other web sites available without charge when using the FHC computers. Click the FHC Portal link at the beginning of this paragraph to see the list of premium resources at the FHC. The list is updated from time to time as contracts change, but is representative of the quality of additional resources now available in the FHC at no charge. Each computer in the Family History Center is now programmed to start with the list of premium resources when FamilySearch is opened (full use of FamilySearch can still be accomplished from that opening page simply by clicking the link to FamilySearch at the top "Favorites" bar).

Finally, all six computers at the FHC have authorized copies of both Legacy and RootsMagic family history software for personal use. Personal family trees may be copied from FamilySearch into either of these commercially available programs and taken home for personal use if you have the same software at home, or else saved on a personally owned USB thumb drive and updated anytime a user comes into the FHC. (NOTE: NO personal storage of information is permitted on the FHC computers - all saving of data must be done on personally owned USB drives.)

Center Services
In our center we have the following resources to help you reach your goals in genealogy:

Film Readers

Microfiche Reader

Computers - six brand new, fast, touch-screen computers installed in August 2019 with reliable high speed internet connections (a 1-Gigabit internet connection was installed on 28 December 2018)

Films & Microfiche (note: Microfiche collections are being deleted from all FHC inventories, and some microfilm holdings may be eliminated in the future, though there are no immediate plans for doing so.)

Films & Microfiche Rental (DISCONTINUED effective 8 September 2017) - but what has been ordered into the FHC in the past is still here, and no immediate plans exist to remove them. Note that most of the images on the films are now available on line at FamilySearch.org at the FHC, the Chattahoochee Valley Libraries branches (including the main library on Macon Rd.), and from home on your own computer. Some films are restricted by the copyright owners and we're only allowed to make them available at the FHC or at the seven branches of the Chattahoochee Valley Libraries.

Scanner/copier (with direct Scan to FamilySearch capability for documents and photos you wish to add to your "Memories" pages on FamilySearch)

Temple and Family History Consultants

Staff Research Specialties:
While some staff members have particular personal areas of interest, probably the most helpful "specialty" is how to use FamilySearch and other resources in the Family History Center. If you haven't seen what's available even in the past year, and particularly if it's been a number of years, the resources are so far advanced since just a few years ago that you will be amazed - it is now changing and improving almost by the week! FamilySearch has been adding new records that can now be searched at an average of more than 10 million new records every single month, plus millions of new images each month as well. Finding all those that pertain to your family has been made far easier and much faster. Come and see!

Resources in the Local Area
Be sure to become familiar with the Columbus Public Library and their excellent Genealogy Room on the 2nd floor. Their resources are significant and of course free to use within the Genealogy Room. Their leadership and staff are making significant strides toward becoming a major family history resource for the larger area surrounding Columbus, GA, and Phenix City, AL. The Library is located at:

3000 Macon Rd

Columbus, Georgia 31906

Phone: 706-243-2669 or 1-800-652-0782

The Genealogy Department phone number is: 706-243-2681

Muscogee Genealogical Society - Check out our local genealogical society for even more possibilities. They've been a part of the local genealogical community for over 40 years! From their web site:

"Muscogee Genealogical Society, founded in 1976, serves all genealogists researching family records in the original Muscogee County. The counties formed from the original Muscogee County are Muscogee, Harris, Marion, Talbot & Chattahoochee Counties. The Society also includes news from the adjacent counties of Troup, Stewart, Upson, Webster and Meriwether in Georgia and Barbour, Chambers, Lee and Russell in Alabama.The Society encourages all genealogists living in the Chattahoochee Valley to join regardless of their ancestral connection to the area. The society encourages affiliation & cooperation of all persons interested in the research of their ancestral heritage."

Links
Online Genealogy Records by Location
 * FamilySearch Research Wiki: What It Can Do For You!: A comprehensive video presentation explaining the Wiki, navigating it, and some especially useful pages. Case studies demonstrate using the Wiki for genealogical research. Editing and adding articles to the Wiki are covered.

Volunteer at the Center
If you would like to volunteer at the Family History Center, please contact one of the staff who will help you begin the approval process. The FHC welcomes both Latter-day Saint and non-Latter-day Saint volunteers. We only ask that you keep the schedule you agree to keep, or arrange for a substitute whenever situations arise that require you to miss your agreed-upon schedule. Need training in the use of our computers and particularly the FamilySearch program? No problem! We'll help you get up to speed. You are not required to be an expert genealogical researcher - just have a heart-felt interest and a willingness to help others.