Tucson Arizona Family History Center

The Tucson Family History Center serves the Tucson area. Established in the 1980's, it houses a large collection of family histories and genealogy books donated by the Arizona State Genealogical Society.

Center Contacts and Hours
Location &amp; Map:


 * 500 S. Langley Ave., Tucson, AZ 85710-4834 United States
 * The free standing building is located on the north east side of the Tucson East Stake Center parking lot, south of Palo Verde Park. There is ample parking and handicap accessibility.
 * Location Map

Phone: 520-298-0905

E-mail: [mailto:az_tucson@ldsmail.net az_tucson@ldsmail.net]

Open Hours:


 * Tuesday 10 am - 9 pm
 * Wednesday 10 am - 2 pm
 * Thursday 10 am - 9 pm
 * Friday 10 am - 5 pm
 * Saturday 10 am - 5 pm
 * Closed: Sunday and Monday
 * Closed Saturday July 4th for the Holiday 
 * Closed for cleaning  July 20th through July 25th

2015 Family History Fair
The 2015 Fair was held on January 31st. Nearly 300 people attended the fair, a new record! '''A special THANK YOU to our presenters, helpers, and those who had great displays in the Cultural Hall. '''Below are the classes presented along with links to any handouts or websites.

BEGINNER TRACK

Beginner 101 - Starting from Scratch (J.L. Strait) - handout

How to Do Research (P. Ingermanson) - handout

Introduction to FamilySearch (P. Ingermanson) - handout

Basic FamilySearch.org Resources for the Beginning Genealogist (P. Ingermanson) handout

Getting Help - Using the Wiki (P. Ingermanson) - wiki help site

FAMILY TREE TRACK

Family Tree Overview (L. Ingermanson) - Provides a quick tour of FamilySearch Family Tree to become familiar with all the aspects available to create your personal family tree. handout

Getting Started in Family Tree (L. Ingermanson) - Discusses how to begin the process of creating your family tree and connecting with your ancestors. handout

Entering Sources in Family Tree (L. Ingermanson) - Sourcing is the most important aspect in creating a proper and correct family tree. Learn several ways of entering sources correctly. handout

Common Family Tree Errors and How to Fix Them (L. Ingermanson) - My tree is all messed up! Come and learn about the common errors you will encounter and how you can fix you tree, correctly. If you have discovered errors in your tree, bring them to the class and we will work on them. Information needed: name of person where the error occurs and the person’s ID number. handout

GENERAL INTEREST TRACK

Google - Beyond the Search Button (A. Urman) - handout

Immigration - They Came In From Where? (L. Carney)

Naturalization (B. Salyer) - handout 1, handout 2, handout 3, handout 4

Introduction to DNA for Family History (J. Caccarozzo) - Learn how DNA testing can help your expand your family tree. We will discuss the three main types of DNA tests, help you determine which test is best for you, and show you what tools are available for analyzing your results when they come in. handout

 PREMIUM SITES TRACK 

Finding Family and Ancestors Using MyHeritage.com (J. Martinez) - wiki site

Old World, New Records: FindMyPast.com Key Resource for Tracing British Ancestry (J. Martinez) - wiki site

Secrets to Ancestry.com Searches (S. Hessick) - Ancestry.com is the most popular website for genealogy research. However, the sheer amount of data can make searching for your ancestors seem daunting. This class will help you navigate the records more efficiently and offer suggestions for maximizing your online research experience. We will only cover records search techniques and strategies in this class—the Ancestry.com Power Tools class will cover the other features available on Ancestry.com. handout

Ancestry.com Power Tools (S. Hessick) - Ancestry.com has many powerful tools to help you grow your family tree and expand your research knowledge. This class will take you beyond the record searches and introduce you to these other tools including how to create and manage online family trees, tools to collaborate with others, using the Learning Center, and Ancestry DNA. handout

 SPECIAL INTEREST TRACK 

German Research (C. Hofmann) - handout,handout

Google Earth Magic (M. Kaplan) - handout

Using Evernote for Research (M.L. Call) - Evernote is a free program/app that allows you to save your work in a "file cabinet" in the cloud and seamlessly sync it across all your devices. You can clip and save pages from the Internet, while preserving all hot links--very useful when planning a research trip or preserving documentation found online. You can upload photos to Evernote and search text within the photos (such as images of newspaper articles). "Notebooks" can be nested within notebooks, allowing a sophisticated file structure and tagging for research notes, photos, and web pages. handout

Scandanavian Research (L. Ingermanson) - A broad overview of researching in the Scandinavian countries and problems you may encounter. handout

iPad Family Tree Apps (S. Christensen)

 YOUTH/LDS TRACK 

Scripture Genealogy (L. Jones)

Speed Family History Temple Names (E. Bedell) and FHC Computers - Puzzilla (H. McDaid) - puzzilla website

Smart Phone Family History Apps (K. Cluff)

Past events
"Optimizing Google as a Genealogical Research Tool" by Amy Urman was taught April 17, 2014. Handout

Family History in the 21st Century 2014 - This Family History Fair was presented on January 25, 2014 at the Tucson East Stake Center. Click here for the list of courses and links to class handouts.

Family History in the 21st Century 2013 - This Family History Fair was presented on January 26, 2013 at the Tucson East Stake Center. Click here for the list of cources and links to class handouts.



Collections

 * The Cox Collection: This microfilm collection contains copies of US county histories published in newspapers in the 1875-1900 period, as well as city directories for major cities of the time.
 * Tucson FHC catalog Several thousand donated books, film and fiche as well as webinars are part of our holdings.This User guide explains how to search it. New acquisitions and "staff favorites" are updated quarterly.
 * FHC Portal: This center has access to the Family History Center Portal page which gives free access in the center to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions. Websites available are:
 * 19th Century British Newspapers
 * Alexander Street Press (Civil War)
 * Ancestry.com
 * Access Newspaper Archive
 * Swedish church records
 * Find My Past (UK)
 * Fold 3 (specializing in military records)
 * Godfrey Memorial Library
 * Heritage Quest
 * Paper Trail
 * World Vital Records
 * Puzilla

Periodicals and Magazines

 * Internet Genealogy
 * NGS quarterly
 * American Ancestors (NEHGS online magazine)

Computer Software Programs and Resources
We have deluxe versions of the following genealogy mangement software for you to "test drive."


 * Ancestral Quest
 * Family Insight (support for this program has ended, but it can still be used for now)
 * Legacy
 * Roots Magic (software programs that interact with Family Search and My Heritage)

Additional computer resources include:


 * Centennia
 * Archives.com
 * Genealogy Bank
 * American Ancestors (New England Genealogical Society)
 * Family Tree Maker disks (some--check catalog)
 * Some Pedigree Resource File disks
 * Spanish version of PAF (PAF 4)

Family Search Compatible and Verified Programs


 * Many interesting and helpful programs that tie to information in Family Search can be found at FamilySearch.org and clicking on the "App Gallery" link in the middle of the page at the bottom.

Hardware and Equipment

 * 10 patron use computers
 * microfilm digital copier
 * scan pictures directly to FamilySearch (NEW)
 * flatbed scanner

Staff Research Specialties

 * British Isles: Saturday 10-2
 * US: Thursday10-2 pm

Classes

 * Family History Consultant and High Priest Group Leadership ongoing training: 1st and 2nd Wednesdays, 7:00pm, taught by Scott Christensen

Volunteer at the Center
Community volunteers with an interest in family history, and a desire to serve others, who are willing to commit to a weekly shift for at least one-two years are invited to join our staff. Training will be provided. Contact the Director for further information.