How has microfilming influenced genealogy?

Answer 1

Microfilm is a strip of 8 mm, 16mm, 35 mm or even 105 mm photographic film that is used to take a series of photographs of documents, books and other genealogically important records. Microfilm cameras must be adapted to hold the long rolls of film. The images produced are viewed by means of a special microfilm viewer that projects and enlarges the images so that the documents can be read. Properly cared for and preserved, microfilmed records can be expected to last for more than 500 years.
Microfilming for genealogy began in 1938 when the Genealogical Society of Utah (now known as FamilySearch) began its worldwide program to microfilm all of the world’s records. From that small beginning in 1938 until the microfilm cameras were replaced with digital ones, the Genealogical Society of Utah which is sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, amassed over 2.4 million rolls of microfilm containing billions of records. The originals of all these rolls of microfilm are stored in the climate-controlled Granite Mountain Records Vault outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. Copies of the microfilm rolls are available to rent throughout the world at more than 4,600 Family History Centers. Genealogical research has greatly benefited from the availability of records and the preservation of records that are no longer available due to wars, floods, fires and other disasters. Many of the world’s record archives have accumulated microfilm and continue to do so because the cost of maintaining microfilm is less than the maintenance for digital files.