This month, FamilySearch published its one billionth digital image of a historic record online at FamilySearch.org.
The feat was accomplished in just seven years. The next billion should take 3-5 years.
Having access to these high-definition images can help you research your family history.
The Church began preserving records for genealogical purposes in 1938 using microfilm. Exponential growth began in 2007 when FamilySearch shifted to digital preservation and technology. During those 7 years, FamilySearch has worked with more than 10,000 archives in over 100 countries.
Learn more in the article “FamilySearch reaches milestone of one billionth published digital image.”
The photo above of John F. Kennedy was found in the “Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Immigration Cards, 1900-1965” collection on familysearch.org. The record says the future U.S. president traveled there as a student in the 1940s.
Those Brazilian immigration cards also turned up the visits of a couple of famous filmmakers from the 1940s, and also four apostles, one of them being President McKay when he went there in 1952. All of these were in the Rio collection, it was more common to go there first instead of Sao Paulo, where they also took this kind of data. FamilySearch is filming the Sao Paulo cards, so who knows who will turn up there as well.