Prestigious preservation award for Familysearch

Familysearch has been presented with the Excellence in Historic Preservation Award by the Daughters of the American Revolution

The award honours the work of Familysearch in preserving the world’s historical genealogical records and expanding access to related resources. Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) president general Denise Doring Vanburen presented the award to Lynn Turner, director of the Familysearch Family History Library (in Salt Lake City, Utah) during the DAR’S 131st Continental Congress national convention in Washington D.C.

Accepting the award, Lynn reflected on the two organisations’ similar dates of origin (DAR in 1890 and Familysearch as the Genealogical Society of Utah in 1894), purposes, and their historic record sets that assist people in finding their ancestral roots. He said: “At Familysearch we strive to create inspiring experiences for anyone that desires to discover and connect with their families past and present. We hope that as you have discovered and connected with your ancestors through our services, you have felt that joy.’ Familysearch started with a few hundred books, but now has more than a half a million books and nearly 5 billion historical record images digitised, and more than 11 billion searchable names all freely available online at Familysearch.org. The Daughters of the American Revolution www.dar.org is a nationwide service organisation for women of lineal descent from Patriots of the American Revolution. More than a million women have been members of the Daughters of the American Revolution since its founding 125 years ago. The organisation’s focus on education, patriotism, and historic preservation has resulted in a growing collection of genealogies submitted by descendants of Revolutionary War patriots.