MyHeritage adds billions of records in new partnership with FamilySearch

To spread the word about this important genealogical development, I am simply reproducing below the official announcement from MyHeritage.com. If this development interests you–and I believe it should–be sure to read the FAQs at the end of the announcement release.

We’re delighted to announce that MyHeritage has entered into a strategic partnership with leading genealogy organization FamilySearch, which will bring billions of global historical records and family tree profiles spanning hundreds of years to MyHeritage.

This is a “historical moment” in the family history industry and very exciting news for family history enthusiasts worldwide.

Historical records are the backbone of family history research and are vital for making new family connections and uncovering new information about ancestors. Family tree profiles are helpful for finding relatives and tapping into the collective knowledge of millions of other users.

In the next few months, we’ll add more than 2 billion records from FamilySearch’s global historic record collections and profiles from its online family tree to SuperSearch , MyHeritage’s search engine for historical records.

The records span hundreds of years and include vital records such as censuses, birth, marriage, and death records and hundreds of other collections from dozens of countries. The family tree profiles include all profiles in the collective family tree on FamilySearch except those of living people, plus any updates and additions that will be made in this tree.

Our matching technologies will be unleashed on these new records and profiles so MyHeritage users will receive Smart Matches™ and Record Matches whenever any of them match their family trees. This will bring significant new opportunities for MyHeritage users to grow their family trees and enrich their family history.

Adding this gigantic treasure trove of global content to MyHeritage is an important step towards fulfilling our mission of helping families everywhere explore and share their legacy online.

Below are a few questions and answers about the partnership. For more information, please read the official press release .

Q: What will FamilySearch provide MyHeritage?
A: FamilySearch will share with MyHeritage a massive number of international records and family tree profiles which are key to researching family history. These include all profiles of deceased individuals from the FamilySearch Family Tree (about 1 billion profiles), and a large selection of global historical records (about 1.2 billion additional records).

Q: Which collections will be added to MyHeritage, and from which countries?
A: The historical records come from hundreds of document collections from dozens of countries worldwide. These include vital records such as birth, baptism, marriage, and death records. The records originate from all over Europe and Latin America as well as the United States and Canada, Asia and other regions.

Q: How long will it take to add the international records and family tree profiles?
A: The collections will be added to SuperSearch over the next few months.

Q: Will Smart Matches™ and Record Matches be enabled on the new records?
A: Yes. MyHeritage users will receive Smart Matches™ and Record Matches on the records added, and be able to save the new information directly to their family trees. Our Record Detective technology means that many of these records will point to others, turning a single discovery into a door for more.

Q: Will this content be free?
A: Some of these collections will be made available for free. For viewing the others, MyHeritage’s existing data subscription will be required. A data subscription provides unlimited access to all Record Matches and all historical records and family tree profiles on MyHeritage, including newspapers and census, birth, marriage and death records.

Q: What will MyHeritage give to FamilySearch?
A: MyHeritage will give FamilySearch access to its technologies for Smart Matching™ and Record Matching so that FamilySearch users will be able to receive matches in the FamilySearch website, especially with the historical records shared by FamilySearch. This will be made available to FamilySearch members during 2014.

Q: Will MyHeritage give any family trees contributed by its users to FamilySearch?
A: No. Content uploaded by MyHeritage users will stay only on MyHeritage and this content is never licensed, shared, sold or given to any third party.

Q: What if I have a tree on MyHeritage and I don’t want it to be matched with FamilySearch?
A: Go to the “My privacy” page on MyHeritage under the account pull-down menu in top right corner of any page. Then go to the Content tab of your tree, and turn off the checkbox labeled “Enable Smart Matching™ with other MyHeritage websites and partners”.

Q: What does this mean for the family history community?
A: Millions of people worldwide, who are using MyHeritage and/or FamilySearch, will now have greater opportunities to discover their family history. MyHeritage users will benefit from historical records digitized by FamilySearch, and FamilySearch users will benefit from powerful technologies created by MyHeritage.

For information about MyHeritage subscription plans, go here: http://www.myheritage.com/subscription-plans