Wow! The Family History Library is amazing. It is gigantic. Banks and banks of computers. Clean. And the folks are so helpful. I’m used to working in the Library of Congress where you are on your own to sink or swim. Here they greet you as you come in; show you around; and if you look the slightest bit puzzled, they are right there asking if they can help. They show you how to use the machines. And there are genealogists on staff to help. It is clean and bright.
I met a Finnish genealogist. He was able to tell me the name in Finnish of the town where my grandfather was from. He also explained that Russia took that part of Finland during World War II and it remains part of Russia today. Since he speaks Finnish he tried to find birth records for me but was unable to.
I learned how to use the library today and came up with a plan for my time here. I spent most of the day looking at microfilm. I found odds and ends on various ancestors. For example, I have always known my great-grandfather on my father’s side had a store in Baltimore. Today I discovered it was a store that sold birds and fish! Tomorrow I will switch from studying microfilm to books. The Family History Library sends its microfilm out to Family History Centers throughout the country if you request it but they do not send out the books. You must use those here. I could have easily designed an entire sabbatical around researching my roots. Maybe that will be the theme of my next one ! I am so grateful Nikol suggested I stop here.
When you use the library you are allowed to eat at the cafeteria for the staff of the Mormon Church. It is good food for not a lot of money. The library is across the street from the Temple. There are so many brides getting their picture taken; it must be an assembly line of weddings in there.
Tonight I took a break and went to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearse. I am glad I did. They have a huge orchestra. I counted 9 cellos and at least 30 violins/violas. You can see from the picture how gigantic the organ pipes are. I counted 60 basses in the choir and 80 tenors. It’s such a large operation that the conference center where the choir performs holds 22,000 people! (The center has 7,000 (yes, thousand) women’s bathroom stalls!)
Hearing the choir rehearse was a lovely break from my library work.
Looking Out Seeing Within 