Family History Library Begins Construction of New Discovery Center

Salt Lake City, Utah, October 10, 2016 - The popular Family History Library in downtown Salt Lake City has begun construction on its new Family History Discovery Center. When complete, the main floor attraction will create family history experiences for patrons of all ages. The project is on a fast track to be completed in February 2017. Admission will be free to the public.

"We have been excited for quite some time to start construction on the new discovery center," said Tamra Stansfield, manager of the Family History Library. "Our guests, particularly those who are completely new to family history, will be able to enjoy fun, personal discoveries through interactive technological experiences with their family's history."

Stansfield said the new center will make the library another unique and exciting destination for locals, families, and youth groups, as well as for tourists of all ages visiting Utah or Temple Square from around the world.

The Family History Library is the flagship facility in a network of over 4,900 family history centers worldwide managed by FamilySearch International, a nonprofit subsidiary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The fun, engaging activities designed for the discovery center are part of an organizational effort to introduce more people to the many fun facets of personal and family discovery.

FamilySearch is learning that if individuals and families have fun, personalized, quick successes and experiences with their family’s history, they will continue to be more involved at different levels throughout their lives. It also deepens appreciation for family connections across multiple generations.

The new discovery center will create a fun environment for families to discuss their family history together in inviting, unexpected ways. Youth particularly will enjoy the life-size touch-screen computer monitors for some of the interactive stations. In addition, there will be an enclosed space for parents with smaller children that will allow them to explore their family history while also being able to observe their children play.

A fun green-screen feature will let guests choose from a variety of themed backgrounds to create a lasting photo memory of their visit to the discovery center.

The new transformations are designed to offer unique interactive and immersive discovery experiences for visitors of all ages while still offering the vast collections and expertise the library is known for among family history enthusiasts and researchers.

When the new discovery center opens, "We expect to find the next generation of dedicated family historians at play in our library," said Stansfield.

Many of the interactive features in the new discovery center will use a patron's family history in the FamilySearch.org Family Tree to create custom learning experiences at a variety of stations. Stansfield suggests individuals and families take the time now during construction to create a free account at FamilySearch.org from home and begin building their family tree, adding favorite family stories and photos together. A developed family tree will enhance their experience when the discovery center opens in 2017.

The Family History Library's staff and other typical services and historic record collections will continue to be accessible during the construction of the discovery center.

The prototype discovery center currently located in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City will be closed to the public once the new center is opened in 2017 but will continue to operate as a FamilySearch development lab, where future experiences can be created and tested. A smaller discovery center was opened earlier this year in Seattle, Washington.

If you would like to follow the new center's construction progress, a time-lapse camera link is available online here.

My Ward's Visit to the FamilySearch Discovery Center

I coordinated my ward family history class' visit to the FamilySearch Discovery Center in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City on September 18, 2015. There were 22 of us! We had a blast! Here are some photos of our experience. This is my third visit to the Discovery Center and I plan to take more ward members and their families in the future. You can read about my other two visits (links are posted at the end of this post).

ONE of a kind! Notice that no one else has his name!

This image below is a new feature since I was at the Center in June. You can select any of the people on this screen (brief tree view) and review the meaning and popularity of their name and info from their birth year.

Can you tell my children had fun? This was their 2nd visit.

While I was there this time I was fortunate to meet Carol Kendall. She is serving a family history mission with her husband. They both recognized me from my 2015 RootsTech presentation. It was fun visiting with her and connecting with her online since our visit.

The Family History Library will be going through a renovation and the main floor will encompass a large Discovery Center to be completed in Summer 2017. Don't wait for the larger center! Come visit the Discovery Center in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building now!

I think the Discovery Center is so fun and engaging. Some of the youth that came with us that night now want their own FamilySearch accounts and they want to come back soon so they can see the information from their own logins instead of their parent's. Anyone over the age of 8 can obtain a free FamilySearch account.

Follow this link to plan your visit and learn more about the FamilySearch Discovery Center: https://familysearch.org/discoverycenter

Read my other posts about the FamilySearch Discovery Center:
My Family's Visit to the FamilySearch Discovery Center
FamilySearch Discovery Center

#DiscoverMyStory     #FamilySearch

My Family's Visit to the FamilySearch Discovery Center

Our family visited the FamilySearch Discovery Center in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City, Utah on June 15, 2015. I had previously visited by myself in February as part of a media visit during RootsTech. You can read about my visit and about how to navigate the various stations in the center at this link: 
FamilySearch Discovery Center

Today's post is about my family's visit and my observations with having my young family there.

In the FamilySearch area of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, you can get a free souvenir photo taken as though you are on the dock arriving in New York City. I especially love Matthew's closed eyes in the above photo. It must have been a long and tiring journey for him. Once the photo is taken, you enter your email address and it is immediately sent to you. Anyone visiting Temple Square should go get a free photo; it is separate from the Discovery Center experience.

In the Discovery Center, when you arrive you are given an iPad and you Sign In with your FamilySearch account and then take a picture of yourself for the adventure. FamilySearch accounts are available for anyone over the age of 8 years. My children are not yet that old; my daughter is getting close though.

Here is a picture of my husband for his Discovery adventure.

Children are then given these items: A hat and a bag containing a map, magnifying glass, binoculars, pencil, notebook, and according to my daughter "wooden circles about families". This is my 2nd visit and I still haven't figured out exactly what is in that bag and the activity that goes along with the map. I am too attached to the iPad stations. I know the map matches the iPad stations that the parents and older children are using. I just don't know what the entire activity is about. The next time we visit, I am going to figure this out.

At one of the iPad stations you learn about your name. Here is information about my husband's name. My information is in my February blog post as mentioned above. I was intrigued that it gave Scott information for both his first and middle name.






















Not only is his first, middle, and last name Scottish, his heritage is 28% Scottish and he chose this photo in the photo booth. I love the look on his face; I giggle all the time when I see it.

We had our children also take pictures in the photo booth using our logged in iPads. Here is Emma in a German outfit; though her heritage is less than 24% German (my login). It will be fun and interesting for her when she is 8 years old next year to visit the Discovery Center under her own login.

At the photo booth you can also switch to other heritages to see what you would look like. Emma really liked this outfit and had fun becoming "Ukrainian" for just a moment.

I call this photo "The One Eyed Ancient Roman"! It can be really hard for a young child to hold still while the computer takes the picture. In many of the images you have to tilt your head to match the picture and it is hard enough for an adult to do, let alone a young child. Still this photo makes me giggle.

I found this interesting thing when my iPad was docked at the map station. In February the program showed that my first chronological ancestor to convert to the LDS Church was Lucy Simmons on 8 March 1832. During this experience in June the program showed that my first convert ancestor was Elisha Hurd Groves and it shows the same date! Lucy and Elisha later marry on 14 January 1836 in Kirtland, Ohio.

Elisha was living in Indiana when he was baptized on 8 March 1832 by Elder Calvin Beebe. He had been taught about the Book of Mormon in September 1831 by Elder Samuel H. Smith (brother of Joseph) and Elder Reynolds Cahoon. The gospel also came to Lucy's home in the fall of 1831 in New York and she was baptized on 8 March 1832 by Elder Samuel H. Smith (brother of Joseph). It is amazing to me that they were both baptized on the very same day and that Elder Samuel H. Smith had influenced both of their lives and then later on 14 January 1836 they marry by the counsel of the Prophet Joseph.

Here are some photos of my children playing with some of the activities that are just outside the Discovery Center room. They enjoyed this area the most.

Again, I hope you are interested in visiting the FamilySearch Discovery Center on your next trip to Salt Lake City. We chose to schedule our visit with the Discovery Center to guarantee that we would be able to get in at the date and time that worked for us. While we were visiting the center, others were able to walk-in without an appointment as there were openings at the time they arrived. You cannot count on having walk-in time available. The center can accommodate larger groups up to 30 people. Follow this link to schedule your visit and learn more about the FamilySearch Discovery Center: https://familysearch.org/discoverycenter

#DiscoverMyStory     #FamilySearch