The following is a FamilySearch news release:
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH—Join FamilySearch, the world’s largest nonprofit genealogy organization, in looking back at 2024 to recap some of its most notable highlights. FamilySearch celebrated its 130th anniversary as an organization in 2024, and the 25th anniversary of its popular website, FamilySearch.org. Millions of visitors made fun new ancestor discoveries during the year thanks to advancements in FamilySearch’s artificial intelligence, new historical records collections, and RootsTech by FamilySearch, which continued its global reach in helping individuals make new family connections.
FamilySearch enjoyed more than 285 million visits from across the planet in 2024. Patrons frequented FamilySearch’s growing record collections, interactive discovery experiences like Surnames and Ancestors, and helpful articles on the FamilySearch Wiki and Blog.
Free Genealogical Records
The most popular reason for visiting FamilySearch.org in 2024 was free access to massive amounts of the world’s genealogical records. FamilySearch offers online access to records for more than 170 countries and principalities. More than 2.5 billion new searchable records and images were added in 2024—totaling more than 20.5 billion for the website. FamilySearch began publishing the Africa oral genealogies with searchable indexes for 12 African countries. The country collections receiving the greatest increase on FamilySearch were the USA, Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Portugal, France, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Argentina, Chile, and Ireland. Search the expanded collections now.
The Collaborative FamilySearch Family Tree
The world’s largest online family tree grew by more than 150 million people in 2024, totaling 1.67 billion searchable people. Contributors also added 530 million sources to their ancestors in the tree—which helps increase accuracy and collaboration. In addition, three new user features were added to the FamilySearch Family Tree:
- Merge Analysis Feature simplifies the ability to review and correct merges, and you can better understand the “before and after” of each merge.
- Portrait Pedigree View Update allows you to view siblings, a single-family line, and multiple family lines at the same time; add relatives quickly without leaving the page; and distinguish living individuals more easily.
- 3 Star Record Hints introduce a broader range of record considerations for experienced researchers to explore.
FamilySearch Digital Books Online
The FamilySearch Digital Library added more than 45,000 new books in 2024. Users now have more than 630,000 free historical publications available to search. Digitized books are full-text searchable, making it easy to discover who, or what, you’re searching.
FamilySearch Library and Centers
The FamilySearch Library and its global network of FamilySearch centers and affiliates help expand access to FamilySearch’s vast resources and discovery experiences. They also offer individual search assistance and free access to premium genealogy websites.
FamilySearch added 324 new FamilySearch centers in 2024, totaling more than 6,500 locations worldwide. FamilySearch Help was updated to help family history researchers get more answers to their ancestral questions.
The library offered 85 free webinars this year, including more classes in Spanish and Portuguese. It offers hundreds more on demand in multiple languages. Review the list of classes in the library’s Learning Center.
RootsTech 2024 Quick Facts
RootsTech 2024 inspired and entertained participants from all over the world. Millions more continue to enjoy the free 2024 content online year round and on demand at RootsTech.org.
- Participants joined from 232 countries and territories.
- More than 4 million participants attended in person and online.
- More than 500,000 participants viewed 5.9 million ancestral relationships through a popular, global Relatives at RootsTech experience that will be repeated in 2025.
The post FamilySearch 2024 Genealogy Highlights first appeared on LDS365: Resources from the Church & Latter-day Saints worldwide.
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