Introduction

About The Family History Guide

The Family History Guide is a free website that represents a best-in-class learning environment for family history. Its scope is broad, but its focus is narrow enough to help you achieve your goals, step by step. Whether you're brand new to family history or a seasoned researcher—or somewhere in between—The Family History Guide can be your difference maker.

Mission Statement: "Our mission is to greatly increase the number of people actively involved in family history worldwide, and to make everyone's family history journey easier, more efficient, and more enjoyable."

Here are some of the unique features you'll find on the site:

Goals for learning, supported by flexible Choices
Step-by-step instructions to make learning easier
Links to videos and articles from FamilySearch, Ancestry, and more
QUIKLinks that take you to record searches from multiple sources, with a single click
Project Tracker sheets and training materials for self-study or group instruction
Activities for families, individuals, youth, and kids
Family history resources for faiths, including members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Catholics, Protestants, and those of Jewish heritage

Overview: For an overview article about The Family History Guide, click here.

Frequently Asked Questions

For a list of questions and answers about The Family History Guide, see the FAQ page.

About the Projects

The Projects in The Family History Guide are listed in the top menu (or side menu, if you are using a tablet or phone). There are separate Projects for FamilySearch, Ancestry, MyHeritage, and Findmypast.

Goals, Choices, Instructions, Resources

To help you with learning and doing your family history, each Project has Goals, Choices, Instructions, and Resources. Projects are found in the top menu, such FamilySearch, Project 1: Family Tree.

Goals are activities you can work on, often for an extended period of time or for many ancestors. Think of these as learning objectives, rather than quotas. (Example ... "Goal 1: Navigate Family Tree.")

Choices are different aspects of a Goal that you can try. These are often shown in a suggested sequence, but you can determine the order. (Example ... "Choice A: Sign in to FamilySearch and move around the Family Tree screen.")

Instructions are the steps you follow to complete a Choice. (Example ... "1. Go to www.familysearch.org and near the upper-right corner of the window, click Sign In.")

Resources are links to helpful articles and videos you can use to teach yourself important family history concepts and skills. (Learn more in Project Resources below.)

Project Resources

Many of the Choices and Instructions in The Family History Guide link to documents and videos.

Learn basic techniques for research.

The Research Process

Display a Fan Chart and print it with a four-generation view.

FS—Quick Start, Family Tree (p.3)

Try it: Launch a video or document by clicking an icon from the list above.

Page numbers in parentheses, such as (p. 3-4), mean the information you need is on those pages. Page numbers without parentheses, such as 8 pgs., mean the document is 8 pages long. (No page number means the document is a web page.) Hold the mouse pointer over the document icon above; it directs you to page 3.

Icon video timings in parentheses, such as (3:00-4:30), mean the information you need is in that part of the video, so you can fast-forward to it. With no parentheses, such as 25:21, the timing refers to the total length of the video.