Civil Rights
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
q2K BHP
Black History Portal
THE BHP WIRE —
HIDDEN TRUTHS
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Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Innovation, patents, science, technology and world-changing contributions.
Pioneers, champions, Negro Leagues, records, activism and excellence.
Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
Black towns, communities, institutions and places where history happened.
Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.
Wilmington, North Carolina once had a thriving Black middle class and an elected interracial government. In 1898 white supremacists used violence to overthrow that government, kill Black residents and drive many others from the city.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
 Homepage of FamilySearch Research Wiki | |
Website type | Genealogy research |
|---|---|
| Available in | 11 languages (as of July 2014) |
| Owner | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |
| Creator | FamilySearch |
| Website | Official Webpage |
| Registration | Required for contributors |
| Launched | December 14, 2007 |
| Current status | Active |
Content license | Creative Commons |
| Written in | MediaWiki |
The FamilySearch Research Wiki (formerly also known as the FamilySearch Wiki or the Family History Research Wiki) is a website containing reference information and educational articles to help locate and interpret genealogical records.[1][2] The wiki is part of the FamilySearch website and was launched in 2007. It is a free-access, free-content online directory and handbook that uses a wiki platform to organize pages. Content is created collaboratively by a member base made up of FamilySearch employees, Mormon missionaries, and the wider online community.[3] As of 2024, pages can be edited only by registered contributors who have completed training on current content policy.[3]
The site itself does not contain information about people or pedigrees, contains no photos or records, and does not accept genealogical queries. Rather, it helps users discover other websites and resources to find such information.
Content on the website is organised into article pages, most of which focus on a specific place. For example, a place may be a town, county, state, province, or nation. Each place article provides guidance on the specific types of records available in that jurisdiction. Every nation worldwide has at least one article, with more extensive coverage for places in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
Content for a place article may include maps, primary repository contact information, organization dates, parent jurisdictions, internal subdivisions such as towns or counties, boundary changes, any record losses or gaps, neighboring localities, local record types, local migration routes, and other local libraries, archives, societies, or museums. Contributors may also include information about record start and stop dates, social life and customs that affected local record keeping, local record idiosyncrasies, records housed in unusual places, and tips for using the records more effectively.
Pages also exist for genealogical, historical, and surname societies.[4]
Religious doctrines, church policies, and religious images are not permitted on the Family History Research Wiki except where they directly impact genealogical research.[5]
Starting about 1988, the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, then known as the Family History Library, developed a series of "research outlines"[6] to aid volunteer staff at its many FamilySearch Center branches, who offered free research advice to visitors.[7] When the FamilySearch Research Wiki was launched in late 2007, the electronic copies of these paper outlines were transferred into the wiki.
This resulted in about 162 initial articles, of which 86 were front-page articles, with each linked to around 25 related topical sub-pages. For example, the front-page article New Jersey Genealogy was linked to the New Jersey Biography, New Jersey Cemeteries, and New Jersey Census pages. Much of the early structure and phrasing of the wiki can be attributed to these publications.
The English-language wiki was launched on December 14, 2007.[8] Initially, it used Plone software.[9]
It was soon determined that MediaWiki software would be a better platform, and in January 2008, it was moved to MediaWiki.[citation needed] As of 2009, moderators had been introduced on the platform.[10] In October 2011, FamilySearch deployed the wiki in 10 additional languages.[9] In 2011, a Wiki Governance Team was set up, which in 2015 was replaced by the Governance Council whose role was to oversee the direction and management of the Research Wiki.[11][12]
In late March 2016, the wiki was transitioned to WikiMedia 1.23.10, a newer, more stable platform which required less maintenance from FamilySearch computer engineers.[citation needed] FamilySearch management dissolved the Wiki Governance Council in April 2021 and replaced it with a Wiki Executive Council.[13] In 2024 the Executive Council suspended the Adopt-a-Page program and the wiki Moderators program.[14] In July 2024, all users' editing rights were suspended, with contributors now required to complete training and pass a test on current FamilySearch content policy before contributing.[3] As of September 2024, it used MediaWiki version 1.39.6.[15]
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The Family History Research Wiki receives over 100 million views per year.[16] During most months, it is typically the second-most frequently visited section (out of ten sections) of FamilySearch, its host site. As of March 7, 2016, the English edition of the Family History Research Wiki had 150,561 registered users who had contributed to the creation of over 82,858 articles.[17]
This resource has been discussed by expert authors in how-to books,[18][19][20][21][22] in periodicals,[23][24][25][26][27][28] by instructors at genealogical conferences and classes,[29][30][31][32][33][34] on internet sites,[35][36][37][38][39][40][41] and in blogs.[42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53] James Tanner wrote on his blog Genealogy's Star in 2014 that the Research Wiki was "the one most valuable genealogical resource on the Web."[54] In a 2014 radio interview, the Federation of Genealogical Societies praised the wiki for its potential benefits to local research and genealogical societies, recommending that societies add themselves to the wiki's database.[55]
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
The FamilySearch Research Wiki (formerly also known as the FamilySearch Wiki or the Family History Research Wiki) is a website containing reference information and educational articles to help locate and interpret genealogical records. The wiki is part of the FamilySearch website and was launched in 2007. It is a free-access, free-content online directory and handbook that uses a wiki platform to organize pages. Content is created collaboratively by a member base made up of FamilySearch employees, Mormon missionaries, and the wider online community. As of 2024, pages can be edited only by registered contributors who have completed training on current content policy. The site itself does not contain information about people or pedigrees, contains no photos or records, and does not accept genealogical queries. Rather, it helps users discover other websites and resources to find such information.
The FamilySearch Library (FSL), formerly the Family History Library, is a genealogical research facility in downtown Salt Lake City. The library is open to the public free of charge and is operated by FamilySearch, the genealogical arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
FamilySearch Centers (FSC), formerly Family History Centers (FHC), are branches of the FamilySearch Library (FSL) in Salt Lake City, Utah, operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The centers supply resources for research and study of genealogy and family history. As of 2026, there are more than 6,622 FSC in 149 countries.
A wiki ( WIK-ee) is a form of hypertext publication on the internet which is collaboratively edited and managed by its audience directly through a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages that can either be edited by the public or any organization. The name derives from the first user-editable website called WikiWikiWeb – wiki being a Hawaiian word meaning 'quick' (pronounced [ˈviti]). Wikis are powered by wiki software, also known as wiki engines. Being a form of content management system, these differ from other web-based systems such as blog software or static site generators in that the content is created without any defined owner or leader. Wikis have little inherent structure, allowing one to emerge according to the needs of the users. Wiki engines usually allow content to be written using a lightweight markup language and sometimes edited with the help of a rich-text editor. There are dozens of different wiki engines in use, both standalone and part of other software, such as bug tracking systems. Some wiki engines are free and open-source, whereas others are proprietary. Some permit control over different functions (levels of access); for example, editing rights may permit changing, adding, or removing material. Others may permit access without enforcing access control. Further rules may be imposed to organize content. In addition to hosting user-authored content, wikis allow those users to interact, hold discussions, and collaborate. There are hundreds of thousands of wikis in use, both public and private, including wikis functioning as knowledge management resources, note-taking tools, community websites, and intranets. Ward Cunningham, the developer of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb, originally described wiki as "the simplest online database that could possibly work". The online encyclopedia project Wikipedia is the most popular wiki-based website, as well as being one of the internet's most popular websites, having been ranked consistently as such since at least 2007. Wikipedia is not a single wiki but rather a collection of hundreds of wikis, with each one pertaining to a specific language, making it the largest reference work of all time. The English-language Wikipedia has the largest collection of articles, standing at 7,253,881 as of October 2026.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Joe Louis.
