Wednesday, May 16, 2007

World Vital Records partnerships

There were several announcements today at the National Genealogical Society conference in Richmond, Virginia. The announcements concerning World Vital Records include partnerships with:

1) FamilySearch (see full report here):

www.WorldVitalRecords.com will provide a vast collection of genealogical materials including vital, land, immigration, and military records; newspapers, international databases, and a collection of reference material.

WorldVitalRecords.com also partnered with Everton Publishers last year to provide the Everton Genealogical Library containing numerous databases, as well as 60 years of the Everton Genealogical Helper and 150,000 Everton Pedigree Files and Family Group Sheets.


"At Everton's we are excited about the fact that for the first time, genealogists have easy access to tens of thousands of queries, family group sheets, pedigree charts, and more from the past 60 years of the Genealogical Helper," said Leland Meitzler, Managing Editor, Everton Publishers.

In addition to making all WorldVitalRecords.com content free, each family history centers will have access to FamilyLink.com, a new social genealogical Web site that enables individuals to connect with genealogists from more than 1,600 cities.

2) Quintin Publications (see full article here):

Quintin Publications' extensive collection of records includes state vital records, town and county histories, family histories, historical maps and gazetteers, modern publications by genealogists (after 1923), and international works.

"These unique collections will significantly increase the amount of databases and geographical information we have to offer at WorldVitalRecords.com, and FamilyLink.com (a new genealogy social networking site sponsored by WorldVitalRecords.com), and will add greater value to every subscription," said Yvette Arts, Director, Content Acquisition.

3) Historic Ellis Island Passenger Records (see full article here):

Today, we're pleased to announce the expanded availability of passenger arrival records which the Foundation has continued to provide at Ellis Island and as a free service online since first introducing the database in April 2001." The records document the arrival of 25 million immigrants, U.S. citizens, and crew members arriving through the Port of New York from 1892 to 1924.

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With the announcement that World Vital Records will be available for FREE at the Family History Library, that means that patrons at the FHL/FHC can access many databases previously behind a subscription firewall.

This is all good for researchers, and a very shrewd move by both FamilySearch (get more people into the FHCs) and WVR (get more visitors to their web site, which will translate into more subscriptions).

Thanks to Dick Eastman for his posting of the press releases from these companies. I linked to Dick's posts rather than the press releases themselves.

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