Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Ancestry.ca and FamilySearch Announce Agreement to Digitize and Index Existing Canadian Censuses

Initiative provides online access to a comprehensive collection of Canadian censuses

Toronto, ON—Ancestry.ca, Canada’s leading online family history Web site, is pleased to announce a joint initiative with FamilySearch International, a nonprofit organization that maintains one of the world's largest repositories of genealogical resources. The joint initiative will allow the organizations to improve online access to a comprehensive collection of Canadian censuses.

As part of the agreement, FamilySearch will digitize and index Canadian census records that Ancestry.ca has acquired. These digitized and indexed records will then be made available to Ancestry.ca members on the company’s Web site, and the indexes will be available for free to the public at FamilySearch.org. The images will be free to qualified FamilySearch members and all FamilySearch family history centers.

FamilySearch will deliver images and indexes to Ancestry.ca for censuses from 1861, 1871, 1881, and 1916, to launch online in 2009. In return, Ancestry.ca will provide indexes to FamilySearch for the 1891 and 1901 censuses.

Karen Peterson, marketing manager for Ancestry.ca, comments, “Teaming with FamilySearch will enable Ancestry.ca to significantly reduce the time and costs involved in delivering these important historical records online for our members. Also, it will free up resources for Ancestry.ca to invest in other historical records our members want made available online.”

Paul Nauta, public affairs manager for FamilySearch, stated, “FamilySearch is committed to providing free or economical access to more historical records quicker. The Canadian census project with Ancestry.ca is in alignment with that directive for Canadian records and will be well received by anyone with Canadian ancestry.”

Ancestry.ca is committed to providing Canadians with the most thorough collection of Canadian censuses to its members, and the partnership allows it to better deliver this access.

No comments: