Some of you may have heard about the project to create a statewide marriage index that
goes up to 1957. It is not-for-profit--when completed, the index will be put online and
will be accessible to the public (similar to the every-name index to the 1880 census that
LDS did a few years ago). At a time when access to vital records is being restricted, we
feel lucky to be getting the cooperation of some of the county clerks (who are giving
permission to microfilm some of their marriage books for use in the project). The more
volunteers, the quicker the index can be completed. Here is the official information:
====================
Work is now underway to create an Indiana marriage index from 1790 to 1957. The Indiana
Genealogical Society (
http://www.indgensoc.org) and the Genealogical Society of Utah
(
http://www.gensocietyofutah.org) are working together to index the marriage records for
every county in Indiana, beginning with the earliest surviving records and going up to
1957. GSU staff are working to digitize the LDS microfilm that already exists for several
Indiana counties, as well as microfilming the original marriage books for all other
counties.
Indexers work from home, at their own pace, via an Internet connection (broadband is
recommended, because of the large file sizes involved). Once they are signed up with the
project, they can login to the indexing site (
http://www.familysearchindexing.org) with
their username and password and then download a small batch of marriage records, which
take just 30-45 minutes to index.
When the Indiana Marriage Indexing Project is completed, it will be placed online as a
searchable database that is free to the public. Entries in the marriage index will link
to a digitized version of the actual marriage records (including marriage applications,
when available).
To sign up to help with the Indiana Marriage Indexing Project, or to see some screenshots
from the indexing software, please visit
http://www.indgensoc.org/indexing.html
Questions can also be directed to the project's coordinator, Shirley Richison
Fields-e-mail indexing(a)indgensoc.org or phone (317) 209-9637.
.
__,_._,___