New Idaho Falls FamilySearch Center Opens



FamilySearch has announced the reopening of its newly renovated Idaho Falls FamilySearch Center. Located at 750 West Elva Street, the free service will introduce guests to a world of fun, interactive, personal and family discoveries. From life-sized interactive experiences, to home video conversation equipment, a recording room, access to personal help and billions of online records, the new attraction will be a popular addition to the local scene.

The Center officially reopened to the public on Monday, June 27, 2022.

The Idaho Falls FamilySearch Center is located in a former LDS chapel that has been fully renovated and repurposed. Discovering your family tree and recording family memories for future generations is one of those purposes. It features 81 web-enabled patron computers, 2 classrooms, a small children’s area, and a host of specialized equipment for personal use.

Want to convert that shelf of box of home videos of family memories to a digital format so you can easily share them or preserve them online? The Idaho Falls FamilySearch Center has 4 workstations equipped to help you transfer your VHS, 8mm, and Super 8 film, CD, Mini DVD, audio and other media types to more current digital file formats. There’s also equipment for photo and film editing. 

Four additional workstations include photo and slide scanners to convert media to digital formats. There’s even a small studio to interview your relatives and capture them sharing favorite memories and stories on camera. Visitors will get a kick out of the green screen that creatively projects you into the homelands of your ancestors and provides you with a fun, digital, souvenir you can share with family and friends.

Interactive Discovery Experiences include:

All About Me

Where I Come From

My Famous Relatives

Picture My Heritage

Compare a Face (Who’s My Doppelgänger?)

The center also offers free weekly classes targeted to the needs of patrons.

If you are a local history buff of sorts, you’ll enjoy large murals of Idaho Falls and historical photos as part of the ambiance. The mural of the Ten Virgins, completed by artist Robert L. Shepherd, was relocated to the new facility and is very impressive. The ceiling had to be raised during renovation to accommodate the mural. Shepherd is also known for painting the mural of the Garden Room in the Idaho Falls LDS temple at the time.

When you arrive, you will find the center staffed by friendly, and perhaps even familiar, local volunteers who are ready to help visitors upon arrival.

Thaddeus and Janice Zabriskie are volunteer directors of the center. They are eager to see people, groups, and family in the community take advantage of the renovated facility. 

“The Idaho Falls Family Search Center is open to our community to help you find and connect with your family and ensure that favorite family memories are preserved and enjoyed for future generations. Visit us to experience the joy of getting to know your ancestors and family history. We can help you find them and their stories. It will touch your heart. In doing so, you might even learn new things about yourself,” the Zabriskies said. 

FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 5,000 family history centers in 129 counties, including the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Related Articles on FamilyTree.com:

FamilySearch Completes Massive Microfilm Digitization

Grand Island Public Library Is A FamilySearch Affiliate

FamilySearch Helps Identify Graves In Historic Cemetery

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