Pick A HAYSTACK

Project Ideas

Record Linking

Pick a record collection from your community to attach such as one of the census years, local obituaries, birth records etc. There are many tools to help accomplish this such as the Map App. Systematically go through record-by-record and make sure that every record is attached to their proper family in the tree. If the collection is too large for your group, choose specific year ranges or specific regions of your community. If you want to adopt a different community, here are some ideas.

Yearbook Indexing

Collect all known yearbooks for a local high school. Gather a team of all ages to help index and identify all persons in those yearbooks. Organize your information into a spreadsheet so that you can systematically go through and find PID numbers for all of those deceased. If they're not already on the tree, add them in. If they're not connected to anyone, help by doing some digging and get them connected into the larger family tree. A great way to involve many ages as well as community members of all faith backgrounds. Here's an example of an ongoing project for RRHS. Or watch a video how to use yearbooks to grow the Family Tree.

Cemetery Rosters

Adopt a local cemetery. Go through headstone-by-headstone and make sure everyone is accounted for. FindAGrave and BillionGraves are awesome sources to help create a spreadsheet. Systematically go through and find PID numbers for all internments. If they're not already on the tree, add them in. If they're not connected to anyone, help by doing some digging and get them connected into the larger family tree. A great way to involve many ages as well as community members of all faith backgrounds. For an extra round, find locals who have collected obituaries and funeral programs (there's always someone that has!) and get those uploaded to FamilySearch. Here's an example of the Malta Cemetery Project.

Photo Collections

Find a collection of unlabeled photos and have community members identify people, places or any other relevant information about those in the collection. Museums are great places to find many boxes full of old unidentified photos that are just waiting to be uploaded. Here is an example of the Cassia County Unidentified Photo Project. Or watch a tutorial video on connecting online photo collections with the tree.

Newspaper Archives

Many larger syndicate newspapers have already digitized and indexed their collections. But smaller, local papers are still catching up. This can be a great project to many ends. Undoubtedly there are many community members who have binders full of newspaper clippings if you cannot access the full archives.

Shoebox Collections

Most families have shoeboxes stuffed away somewhere that are full of treasures. Digitization is the easy part. Indexing and tagging those images may take an army. This is a project that brings one of the biggest rewards. Within days, you'll be receiving message from other FamilySearch users asking, "Where did you find this picture of my ancestor? I've never seen this before!"

Community History Books in Libraries

You'd be amazed how many people have dedicated a portion of their life to compiling stories and histories of communities or groups in your area. They are often gathering dust in obscure corners of our libraries. A fun project can be to get them digitized and uploaded to the mentioned person's profiles in FamilySearch.

Nursing & Retirement Homes

One of the biggest travesties is to lose a library full of knowledge. Each resident of a nursing or retirement home is just such a library. Time is ticking! Regular visits to go connect with these beloved people can be so rewarding in and of itself. While you're there, take some extra effort to digitize, record, and help them preserve their memories. Most love to share!

Museums

Local museums have so much information about local history as well as community members at large. Large museums may have already digitized their collections. Smaller ones need our help!

City Hall & Court Records

This type of project can be trickier to get off the ground. Connect with local city halls and see if they need any help digitizing or indexing their records. If someone already has started, get their contact information so that you can help out. The church is offering to help out out with missionaries and resources. Get in touch the Salt Lake center for more information.

Missionary Areas

Let's serve missions together! Our full-time missionaries can serve on this side of the veil while we help and serve on the other side. You'll be amazed at the miracles and "coincidences" as you do! Our ministering angels are often our ancestors. So as we help attach records and prepare names for the temple in the same area as our full-time missionaries are serving, we are helping them to receive their ordinances and help them minister to the living.

Awards and Recognitions

All around us are lists and rosters of persons who have accomplished amazing things. Everyone deserves a standing ovation. Find a roster like this of a previous generation and make sure that each of their FamilySearch profiles mention their accomplisment. You'd be surprised how many you'll find aren't on the tree yet!