Coronavirus Access to Images normally only available in local FHCentres

LegacyUser

hengest said: Hello, I use the images of original parish registers and wills to be found in the catalogue, which means I have been using my local Family History Centre a lot in the past, since I am unable to access most images from home due to some sort of legal imposition by the archive where the document is held. With the present rules of social distancing, my local Centre has been shut since the lockdown, and I wonder whether it will become available even in the future. Bearing this in mind, might it be possible to open the images to home-use all the while the coronavirus conditions cause the FH Centres to remain closed. The National Archives have made it free to download PCC wills during the time they are closed and the wills are not available to the public. Could you do something similar with your images in the catalogue?

LegacyUser

Paul said: Sadly, we have been told quite clearly this will not be possible. See top of page at https://www.familysearch.org/search,/ as shown below.

LegacyUser

A van Helsdingen said: Restrictions are due to contracts between the record owner and FamilySearch. These contracts do not make exemptions for pandemics. FS would have to negotiate a temporary exemption with the record owners, and there is no indication that FS has attempted to do this for any of their records.

Usually the reason for restrictions is that the records can be found on a subscription website such as Ancestry.com or FindMyPast.

This table lists where parish records for each English county can be found: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/...

Until FHCs reopen or FS is able to negotiate exemptions (which appears very unlikely), the only way to view these records will be to use subscription sites or visit the archives in person if they are open.

LegacyUser

Paul said: Sorry, my link does not work because I added a comma in the wrong place. See https://www.familysearch.org/search/