It was recently announced that Familysearch.org and Ancestry.com will be pairing up to place over one billion new genealogy records online. The records that are to be digitized and made available to researchers via the internet are currently part of FamilySearch.org’s microfilm collection held by their Family History Library network.

Currently researchers must visit one of the worldwide Family History Centers or the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah to access the wonderful collection of records, the largest collection of genealogical data in the world. What an exciting project for genealogists, especially researchers who are limited in their capacity to travel, or confined to their homes.

The two giants of genealogy are currently in the process of working out the details, though sources reveal that more than $60 million has been allocated to the project. Ancestry.com and Familysearch.org are considered by the majority of genealogists to be the two most important such organizations in the world; their unification in this huge project is a fantastic development that will allow many more budding genealogists to trace their family trees.

The partnership is indeed an intriguing one. FamilySearch.org is owned and managed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons), and is the largest genealogy organization in the world. Access to their records is free to anyone. Ancestry.com is the largest commercial genealogy organization in the world, with nearly 3 million paid subscribers. One might think they make somewhat of an odd couple,

The senior vice-president of FamilySearch.org’s patron and partners branch, Don Anderson, however, views the partnership as an opportunity to expand its mission of making genealogy research materials available to everyone. “I think from a FamilySearch perspective, what we’re trying to do is work with a variety of partners where we can make the records the most accessible to individuals to use them,” he said.

Ancestry.com currently operates primarily in English-speaking countries with the exception of Sweden, but CEO Tim Sullivan sees the alliance as an opportunity for Ancesty.com to expand both its record collection and customer base. “We’re really excited about the chance to potentially open up new businesses in new international markets,” he said, “but as important, give Americans access to records from some of the nations of their homelands.”

The two giants of genealogy have collaborated on projects before, but by and large this is their greatest undertaking ever. It is indeed an exciting prospect for every genealogist; we just hope that we won’t have to now pay for material that was previously free to access. We’ll see, so stay tuned to this genealogy channel!