PROVO, Utah, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- A billion genealogical records will be made available online under an agreement between Ancestry.com and FamilySearch International, a spokesman said.
The genealogy website Ancestry.com and Family Search International, the Mormon Church's genealogical organization, announced a five-year partnership Friday that will make the church's records, now on 2.4 million rolls of microfilm and 1 million microfiches, more easily accessible.
The billions of pages of records are housed in a climate-controlled environment in the church's Granite Mountain Records Vault in Utah's Little Cottonwood Canyon, the Salt Lake City Deseret News reported.
"A billion new records are going to see the light of the Internet because [the groups] are working together. For those who are interested in genealogy, this is great news," said Paul Nauta of FamilySearch.
The agreement calls for the two services to work to digitize, index and publish the church's records, a statement by the two groups said.
