The Genealogical Society of Utah and FamilySearch

The Genealogical Society of Utah, now known as FamilySearch, established in 1894, is an incorporated, nonprofit educational institution entirely funded by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Quoting from the FamilySearch Website, "The Genealogical Society of Utah is a member of the International Council on Archives (ICA), and representatives have served on many of the ICA’s committees. The Society is an active participant in the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS), the Society of American Archivists (SAA), the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) and many national and regional organizations associated with the programs of the Society. The Genealogical Society of Utah has membership in ISO (International Standards Organization), ANSI (American National Standards Institute), and other international standards organizations and has been instrumental in setting the quality standards for microform and other preservation technologies."

One of the major programs of FamilySearch is digitize and provide online access to copyrighted microfilm preserved in the Granite Mountain Records Vault. In addition, this major undertaking has been expanded to join with other record repositories to provide free services to archives and other records custodians who are interested in preserving their collections. You may wish to review the FamilySearch FAQs site.

The Genealogical Society of Utah is separate from the The Utah Genealogical Association. The Utah Genealogical Association (UGA) was formally organized September 25, 1971, and chartered December 1, 1971, by the State of Utah as a nonprofit educational organization. The Association's interests are worldwide. It is not affiliated with any religious or political organization.

Now I know why I had trouble keeping all of this straight. But I am glad I sorted it out.