One explanation for perks of being a church member or going to FHC.

LegacyUser

Jordi Kloosterboer said: I have never seen this explanation before and I think some people might find it interesting.

LegacyUser

A van Helsdingen said: It's not contradictory to the official communication on this issue. Contracts between record custodians and FS govern access to records. "preservation services" simply means microfilming and taking digital copies, as a backup for the physical originals. In exchange for the peace of mind this gives the custodians, they might allow free online access to FS users even though they charge users to visit the archives.

This explanation doesn't apply to most of the more widely used records, where the reason for restricted access is obvious- to stop people using FS to bypass paywalls.