FamilySearch yesterday shared its plans for this year.
The genealogical organization intends to add records for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Luxembourg, Nicaragua, and Uganda.
In addition, FamilySearch will continue to make significant additions to the collections of Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
FamilySearch adds up to a billion new online genealogical records from around the world each year.
In early 2023, FamilySearch will finish publishing the complete 1950 US Census online, including territories and schedules. It expects the census to be the most searched US genealogical collection online for the next decade.
African oral genealogies
FamilySearch has been preserving oral genealogies from 18 African countries. Since 2003, it has conducted more than one million oral genealogy interviews and constructed family trees from those interviews. In the coming year, the searchable trees will be available for the first time in a new search experience at FamilySearch.org.
Handwriting recognition for Italian records
FamilySearch also plans to expand the reach of its handwriting recognition technology and new Get Involved volunteer initiatives onto millions of native Italian records in 2023. Currently records are available in Portuguese, Spanish, and English.
This will help expedite the discoverability of FamilySearch’s growing online image collection of genealogical documents from more countries worldwide by making them text and name searchable. In 2021–22, more than 100 million Spanish language records were made searchable through these new technologies.
Online volunteers who are native speakers of the language content help edit names from the computer-aided indexes to increase the overall accuracy of the user search experience.
In 2023, a new dashboard feature will enable volunteers to see how their efforts are contributing to patron successes. They will see how often a name they indexed was found by a patron and attached to a patron’s tree as a source. They will also be able to see how they have contributed to each country when they help with other Get Involved projects in Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese records.
RootsTech
FamilySearch’s very popular RootsTech event returns March 2 to 4. The world’s largest online family history conference will include a live, in-person event in Salt Lake City, Utah, on the same dates.
The online experience — that will provide more than 200 classes — is expected to attract millions of attendees worldwide. Thousands are already registered to participate in the in-person event. The online event is free, and the in-person event is US$98. Find out more or register now for both at RootsTech.org.
