Creating a Community Project FamilySearch Account

Tamara Stevenson

Not sure if this is the right place to list this discussion, but giving it a try. Our local family history center is teaming with our local county museum to digitize their photo collection, containing several thousand photos. We would like to add these to FamilySearch for those deceased persons found in the photos. Our concern is having our local contributors use their own personal FamilySearch account to upload the photos. They are not our families and we don't necessary what to have all of those extra photos on our own personal FamilySearch account. Has anyone created a "group" account to be used for the purpose of uploading large photo collections to FamilySearch? Is this even allowed on FamilySearch?

Chris Schmink

There is no feature to create a "group" FamilySearch account. Accounts pertain to just the person who created the account, and creating the account puts the creator as the "home" person on Family Tree right in the middle of the pedigree chart, whether landscape, portrait or fan chart.

While unrelated people can be added to FamilySearch as unconnected individuals, significant cautions should be exercised when doing so for a variety of reasons. And any information about living persons would be inappropriate to post (such as adding a caption with the names of others in the photo, or a narrative that mentions living relatives of the person in the museum photo, etc.).

Wouldn't the museum's own website be the most appropriate place for all of those individual photos? The museum could make those photos searchable if the photos are of deceased individuals, and then living relatives could potentially find the names and photos on the museum website, and add them to their OWN FamilySearch account including the museum site as the "Source" of that person on FamilySearch on that person's Person Page, with the photo going into that person's "Memories" section on the Person Page.

Note that the very top item on the current FamilySearch home page begins with, "FamilySearch offers a variety of ways to learn more about your family story."

I believe the project should be approached with great caution, if done at all. Depending on a number of factors, there could possibly be privacy or other legal violations associated with such a project even if the photos with their names are posted by unrelated individuals on FamilySearch, not connected to anyone else on the Tree. Tree building is a way we can add people unrelated to us, but we'd be adding the people to an already existing relationship on the Tree, not as a single individual unconnected to anyone else on the Family Tree.

Just my 2¢

--Chris

Heather R Jacobs

@Tamara Stevenson That is such a wonderful project that you want to do! There is someone that would be good to talk to as he has done something similar to this. I am going to tag @Dennis J Yancey so he can connect with you and show you what he has done with attaching many photos.

• Here is his website: https://yanceyfamilygenealogy.org/family_bible_index.htm
• Scroll down and click on Click here to search FamilySearch Memories for uploaded copies of Family Bibles 
• Filter by Albums, and you will see that he has created albums for these pictures. I believe that he has created a separate FamilySearch account as well so they are not attached to his personal gallery but to the separate account gallery.

I hope that this helps. I am so excited to hear more about this project!

Tamara Stevenson

@Heather R Jacobs Thank you for your response- I will reach out to Dennis.

Dennis J Yancey

yes Our family bibles preservation project is. Very similar type project. We have uploaded tens of thousands of items to FamilySearch. Check out

https://yanceyfamilygenealogy.org/FBPP_FS.htm

for items that were written or created in the 19th century or earlier such items would not be covered by copyright and would be in the public domain

I am traveling at the moment but later today or soon I will try to share more details.

I very much support your project. The reason I do much more value projects Like this over simply a museum web site is that even if such info is available on some museum web site - it doesn’t clue to the family into knowing that such valuable documents exist for their ancestors. Where As linking documents as memories in FamilySearch family tree is a very direct way to let family know and share with them such valuable documents. People don’t have to go looking far and wide for family documents. They just go to their family tree in FamilySearch and there they will find such documents. For the entire family to see

though technically any given FS account is linked to the specific person who created it - there are ways to accomplish what you envision with FS user accounts. And a given person can have more than one account. ( a secondary account besides a primary account). AND just because you have an account doesn’t mean that is an account where you will enter your family tree on

i will contact you privately with more details

Dennis J Yancey

Also check this slideshow of examples of samplers and family registers that have been uploaded to FamilySearch memories using a pseudo group account

https://www.familysearch.org/photos/gallery/album/968264?playSlideshow

also

https://www.familysearch.org/photos/gallery/album/1043386?playSlideshow

Dennis J Yancey

Also this is a compilation of important information about copyright and how it applies or doesn’t apply to genealogy material or museum material

https://yanceyfamilygenealogy.org/copyright.htm

Dennis J Yancey

In our family Bible project we link family bible records. To pre existing family records in FamilyTree so that the family is then made aware of such family bible records after we establish the FS memory link. The family will find the document just by navigating their own family tree.

of course we are referring to deceased families and not living persons

Dennis J Yancey

Here is a sister project to our family Bible project. This sister project is dedicated to African American records.

see: https://yanceyfamilygenealogy.org/African_American_FS.htm

I would guess your museum project might be similar

Dennis J Yancey

Understanding FS albums is critical in such projects. See: https://yanceyfamilygenealogy.org/albums.htm

Dennis J Yancey

The family Bible preservation project now going for about 4 years and uploading more than 40,000 items to FS memories Has received many hundreds of messages from family members who have shared virtually always positive grateful comments about the records we have uploaded. Many of them had no idea that such bible records, samplers, family registers even existed. When we person tag these items the family is often notified. We could have just put such bible records on a web site or at some museum or in a published book But in most cases the people who really value and benefit from such records never would have found out about such records. That’s why this type of project is so much more effective and powerful than just posting such info on a museum website. This way the family directly is made aware and benefits from the info even if they never proactively went searching for it. We process all sorts of records that have high value for specific individual families. Family bibles. Registers. Samplers family letters art etc.

our project has been a great success from the start. And all made possible by willing volunteers who are happy to help person tag these items.

I wish there were more projects like ours

https://yanceyfamilygenealogy.org/genealogical_service_project.htm

Dennis J Yancey

Another thing to consider is that as you create albums with a specific subject in mind. You can also look for items that other people have already uploaded to FS memories that have the same subject and you can add them to your own album even though they were uploaded by someone else. Any item can be included in any number of albums that make sense. So for example you can create an album for CASSIA COUNTY HISTORY and then find items already in FS that can be added.

Dennis J Yancey

To search for FS memories items use the FIND utility.

https://www.familysearch.org/photos/find

please note. When you use multiple terms you should connect them with a Capital “AND”.

like

CASSIA AND IDAHO

Tamara Stevenson

Thanks for those suggestions and all the others you have shared via private message. All of the possibilities are amazing! Once the idea gets started and the path begins to take place- the snowballs from there. So excited to see where it takes our center and our community.

Dennis J Yancey

When I click on COMMUNITY PROJECT on your site. It seems to expect sons higher level of security for me to access. I can’t seem to get to the actual content

Tamara Stevenson

Sorry about that- I fixed the link. https://burleyfamilyhistorycenter.blogspot.com/ Click on the "Community Projects" to see what we are doing. And thanks again for the assistance.

Heather R Jacobs

@Tamara Stevenson That is one impressive website.