Family History Library

The Family History Library on West Temple Street, next to Temple Square, holds the world's largest genealogical collection: billions of records from countries all over the world, spanning centuries of births, deaths, marriages, and census data. The library is free and open to the public, regardless of religion, and the staff are trained to help visitors research their family trees.

If you have ancestors from anywhere with decent historical record-keeping — Europe, Latin America, parts of Africa and Asia — there is a reasonable chance this library holds records about them that you could not find anywhere else. Researchers come from all over the world specifically to use it.

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A story
The LDS Church has been systematically photographing, transcribing, and indexing genealogical records from around the world since the 1930s, driven by the belief that members can perform proxy baptisms for deceased ancestors. The result is the world's largest genealogical library — and because the records are freely accessible to anyone, non-Mormons with European, Latin American, or African ancestry often find that Salt Lake City holds more information about their families than any institution in their home country.