FamilySearch: Family History Center Subscriptions

Today's article is motivated by an article from Renee's Genealogy Blog on 9 Feb 2011. Ancestry.com is now available for free (again) at Family History Centers.

When I went to church today I stopped to look around the Family History Center as I often do and I noticed the new portal: www.fhc.familysearch.org
It must be viewed from a FHC computer with LANDesk installed so I got some screen shots for you.


The portal is broken into three categories: Genealogical Resources, Classes & Workshops, as well as One-on-One Assistance.

• Genealogical Resources includes links to Premium Subscriptions, FamilySearch, FamilySearch Indexing, and FamilySearch Microfilm Ordering (sorry locals, microfilm ordering online is still not available in the United States).

• Classes & Workshops include links to Online Research Courses and the new FamilyTech section of FamilySearch.org

• One-on-One Assistance links to FamilySearch Records Wiki, FamilySearch Forums (still in beta), and FamilySearch Help Center.

I spent some time today clicking around the various websites. While all of the content is worth a discussion the content that can only be accessed from Family History Centers is the Premium Subscriptions section.

Here is the new look for Ancestry.com from the centers:

It appears to be a little more modern of a look than the old library version, similar to the non-library version, but lacking all the personalized features of a personal account.

Besides Ancestry.com, several other websites can be accessed for free from there and I took some screen shots to share with you which I have posted below. If you click any of the screen shots you may see a larger image.

Footnote

World Vital Records

British Library Newspapers

findmypast.co.uk

The Genealogist

American Civil War Research Database

I had some trouble with findmypast.co.uk because it did not appear to be logged in. I hope that FamilySearch will upload some webinars on how to use these websites. I have some ancestors from the UK, but these UK websites are run quite differently than what most of us in the United States are used to. I'd be happy for advice from any of my readers and hope this look into the new Family History Center portal has been helpful.