Your local Family History Center has a wealth of resources for the family historian. Besides the ability to borrow microfiche and microfilm, each Center has their own resources including books, journal subscriptions, research aids and internet access. Using their computer system you can access the Family History Center Portal which provides free access to 10 genealogy subscription databases.

What’s the Family History Center Portal? Don’t let the phrase “Family History Center Portal” confuse you. A portal provides protected access to databases not available from your home computer. The Portal is a special service offered by the Family History Center, not available anywhere else.

Through the Family History Center Portal, a website accessed through a link on the Center’s computers, you can search the following subscription services for free:

Footnote.com–Through a unique partnership with the National Archives, Footnote allows you to find and share historic documents.

Godfrey Memorial Library–A genealogy and history library located in Connecticut. Godfrey provides links to resources throughout the United States.

Heritage Quest-Only available via a library subscription, Heritage Quest has U.S. census images, Revolutionary War pension records, Freedman records, digitized books and PERSI.

WorldVitalRecords- Has over 1.4 billion images for the United States and the world including everything from vital records, census images, newspapers, digitized books and more.

Alexander Street Press/American Civil War-Letters and diaries and resources about the American Civil War.

19th Century British Library Newspaper Digital Archives-A collection of newspapers to use for your English research.

Find My Past -650 million family history records from the U.K.

The Genealogist- UK census transcriptions, parish records, vital records, electoral rolls, directories and more.

Genline-Swedish genealogy database site with over 17 million Swedish church record images.

Historic Mapworks Library Edition-Over 1 million historic maps that include property maps and directories.

In addition, some Family History Centers may also independently subscribe to other genealogy websites. Contact your local Family History Center for more information.

The Family History Center Portal is only available through a Family History Center; you cannot access it from home. Not sure where your local Family History Center is located? Check out the directory at http://www.familysearch.org/ and look for the link Find a Family History Center.