This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
More than a billion records from historical obituaries will be available online in the future, but it's going to take a lot of volunteer help to make them searchable.
FamilySearch International, a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and GenealogyBank.com, which has acquired a collections of newspapers and historical documents for family history research, announced Wednesday they have reached an agreement to make it possible to search for ancestors' obituaries over the Internet.
But organizing the massive amount of information available into a searchable format will require the efforts of a sizable cadre of volunteers, said Dennis Brimhall, CEO of FamilySearch.
"The obituaries are fairly simple to read, since they are digital images of the type-set, printed originals," said a news release. "But [they] require human judgment to sort through the rich, historic data and family relationships recorded about each person."
Noting that FamilySearch.org volunteers already have indexed more than 1 billion records online since 2006, the release said potential volunteers may go to FamilySearch.org/indexing for a training video, an indexing guide and detailed instructions, along with links to telephone and online support.
GenealogyBank.com has accumulated more than 6,500 U.S. newspapers, from all 50 states, some dating to 1730.
"Obituaries, unlike any other resource, have the ability to add incredible dimensions to an individual's family history research," said GenealogyBank Vice President Dan Jones. "They contain a wealth of information, including facts and details that help capture the legacy of those who have passed on.
Volunteers have risen to the occasion before, Brimhall said.
In 2012, the release noted, they "rallied in a record-breaking effort to index the entire 1940 U.S. Census in just four months. Today, the U.S. censuses from 1790 to 1940 are the most popular online databases for family history research."
Additional information is available at FamilySearch.org/Campaign/Obituaries.