Contributing to the Pedigree Resource File

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) has long maintained an online database called the Pedigree Resource File (PRF). This is a user contributor file to which all are encouraged to contribute and upload files. The uploaded files have been published on a series of CDs (now DVDs) essentially in the format they are contributed. An Index of the uploaded files is contained on the FamilySearch.org Website.

With the introduction of New FamilySearch (NFS), some of the files contained in the PRF were incorporated into the huge NFS database. In a NFS Help Center document, "Understanding How Information from Ancestral File, Pedigree Resource File, and the International Genealogical Index Was Added to FamilySearch" the Church said:

• Information that was published in Ancestral File, including corrections, will appear both as it was originally contributed and as it was later merged and displayed in Ancestral File. You will see notes and sources if they were provided in the original contribution. In addition, information and corrections that were never published in Ancestral File are also included.
• Many contributors provided the same information multiple times to the Pedigree Resource File. They often did this to provide additions and corrections. These multiple contributions have been combined in FamilySearch. If information changed, you will see the most recent version of the information. You will also see notes and sources if they were provided in the original contribution.
• Information from the International Genealogical Index has also been added to FamilySearch. You can correct the genealogical information but not the ordinance information.

There are currently over 140 discs of PRF files. But Document ID: 102740 of NFS states that the PRF was only loaded into NFS up to disc 85. This Document goes on to state:

Although all of the Pedigree Resource File discs have not been added to the new FamilySearch, you may still submit to the Pedigree Resource File through www.familysearch.org. It is a great research tool that can be purchased by anyone from Distribution Services.

Unresolved is the issue if future submissions to the PRF will be incorporated, in the future, into NFS. Also unresolved is the issue of the future of the PRF.