Larry Petersen and his wife Glee codirectors of the new Family Search Center stand amidst the modern touch screen kiosks in the New Family Search Center on Monday Sept. 18, 2023.
NORTH LOGAN – The Family Search Center has a new home. It was in the basement of the Logan Tabernacle then moved to a temporary home in the Logan Fourth Ward building. Now they are going to have a new space located at 165 East 2200 North in the same building the Bishop’s Storehouse is in.
On the east side of the building is a new spacious Family Search Center with all the modern technology and computers to help anyone find their ancestors and have an exciting time finding out about their relatives.
“This place is open to anyone in the community regardless of religious affiliation,” said Larry Petersen, the co-director since August with his wife Glee. “People can spend hours in here and have a great experience.”
There is an Open House scheduled for Friday, September 22 from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday, September 23 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Everyone of any religious affiliation or any organization is welcome to come.
“We have 34 computers where people can look up family history,” he said. “We also have 13 touch screen kiosks where people can find out what famous people they are related to, where they come from and what relative they look the most like and more.”
The modern facility has a green room where people can dress up in costumes and have a picture taken in front of any temple in the world. The resources include an oral history recording room where people can record themselves talking about their family.
“This center is all about you. The people who come in here,” Glee said. “We have a place where people can digitize videotapes, 8 mm movies, slides and regular photos.”
The center’s website describes many of the new and continuing services available at the center, but they go far beyond the traditional understanding of genealogy or family history.
“We have a kid’s area where people can come in and let their kids play while they work on family history,” she said. “And look at these graphics on the wall and all the historic photographs of the Cache Valley.”
“If youth groups or any other organizations want to come in after hours they can schedule the facility, Glee said. “We even have a snack bar.”
Everything is handicapped accessible.
The one thing to keep in mind when visiting the Family Search Center is they are all about helping people. There are plenty of trained volunteers to help the novice to the most experienced genealogist.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints currently has more than 5,000 operating family history centers in more than 140 countries.