The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints calls missionaries
to film archival records all over the world. Two of them were
recently spotlighted on "7:30", the ABC News current affairs
program in Tasmania.
Len and Cecily Watson showed reporter Linda Hunt their painstaking
work in the State Archives in Hobart. They are filming the pages of
hundreds of volumes. Through Family Search, the Church's online
database, 168,000 records will now be available at no cost to
researchers.
"Tasmania has a rich source of colonial and convict heritage for
history buffs to explore," says the broadcaster. Much of that
history will now be accessible at the click of a button. "In the
past," says Ross Latham, Tasmania's archivist, "you would have had
to get a research agent to undertake, in your behalf, finding the
information."
Listen to the entire newscast at "ABC
7:30 TASMANIA" .