Until
the 1980s all submissions were done on paper.
1980s –
computer submissions began: Submissions created in PAF were run through
TempleReady in a FHC to check the IGI on CD-ROMs for completed ordinances.
1999 -
FamilySearch.org went online (FamilySearch became the trade name for services
of the Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.) We were still using TempleReady and IGI.
2007-2013 - Submissions were done using http://new.familysearch.org (This parallel web site was
a vast improvement in preventing duplicated research and duplicated ordinances,
as submissions were checked against completed ordinances in real time rather
than against CD-ROMs that might be a year or more out of date. Only Church members
had access to new.familysearch.org, but the general public had access to FamilySearch.org.)
2013 to
present - Family Tree replaced new.familysearch.org
Family Tree is an
integral part of the FamilySearch web site. Family Tree is an open edit, source-centric database
that resolved some major issues with nFS, and added Memories and easy sourcing
using our billions of historical records. It is still not perfect, but it is
better than the systems that preceded it.
Some day
we hope to have a system as good as the record keeping that goes on beyond the
veil, but we are not there yet.
History of FamilySearch:
The Genealogical
Society of Utah was organized by the Church in 1894.
Later it
was renamed the Genealogical Department, and it is currently the Family History
Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We use
FamilySearch as a trade name.
(This can be confusing as the leader has the dual
titles of "Managing Director of the Family History Department ..."
and "Chief Executive Officer of FamilySearch International". He
reports to a committee headed by Elder Bradley Foster of the Seventy, who
report to the Apostles and the First Presidency).
So
basically GSU became the Genealogical Department, which became the Family
History Department AKA FamilySearch.
