Great announcements for WorldVitalRecords at NGS

WorldVitalRecords.com held a press conference yesterday and announced several important industry announcements. This was somewhat of a novely, because there aren't that many press conferences held in the genealogy and family history indstry. I think that some people showed up just to see what the excitement was all about.

I think that these are industry changing announcments and demonstrate the growth and progress in the Genealogy and Family History communities.

Our three announcements were:

1) The three-way partnership with the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Foundation, FamilySearch (formerly the Genealogical Society of Utah sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), and WorldVitalRecords.com to provide the index of 25 million immigrants that came through the Port of New York and Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924 on WorldVitalRecords.com.

This is the statement that I read from Stephen Brigante the CEO of The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation:

"The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation is pleased to announce this
partnership today whereby the historic passenger arrival records for the
Port of New York and Ellis Island will be freely available through
WorldVitalRecords and FamilyLink. This expanded availability continues our
long-standing commitment to helping families better understand their
personal connection to the history of American immigration.

Since first being made available online in April 2001, this collection of nearly 25 million records has proven to be one of the single most-important and popular record collections anywhere in the world. Last month, the Foundation celebrated the 100th anniversary of the busiest day in the history of Ellis Island – a day when 11,747 passengers were received through the Great Hall that now serves as a museum and research center for millions of visitors each year. Arrivals through Ellis Island represent more than 150 different ethnicities, reinforcing the worldwide importance of these records.

As a nonprofit Foundation, we continue to be thankful for the support of individuals and corporate sponsors whose generosity makes it possible for us to continue our important work of preservation, restoration, and education. We also appreciate and recognize our long-standing partnership with FamilySearch and the work of their wonderful volunteers who made possible the original launch of these historic records in 2001. As we now welcome World Vital Records to our successful alliance, we are excited that an even larger worldwide audience will be reminded of the importance of the Ellis Island records." said Stephen Briganti, President/CEO of The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation

Wayne Metcalfe, Vice President of Records Services for FamilySearch commented, “We were pleased to provide assistance to the Foundation for the opening of their family history center in 2001 and are equally excited to see the expanded availability of these important records via the Internet. We were equally pleased to work in conjunction with World Vital Records in our new Records Access program. World Vital Records is part of a growing group of new breed online genealogical service providers who are seeking to promote the needs of records custodians and foundations like Ellis Island around the world.”

Link to press release: blog.worldvitalrecords.com/?p=186

2) Agreement between FamilySearch (formerly the Genealogical Society of Utah sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), and WorldVitalRecords.com to provide access to the subscription databases on WorldVitalRecords.com in ovre 4,500 family history centers throughout the world.

“We are looking for a new breed of genealogy websites that are willing to work
with FamilySearch to meet the needs and interests of record custodians and our
patrons. WorldVitalRecords.com was uniquely positioned because of its rapid
growth in the industry and potential for success, along with additional
genealogical providers to fill this void. We are certain this agreement with
WorldVitalRecords.com will greatly benefit a worldwide audience of genealogists
with this free service,” said Paul Nauta, Manager of Public Affairs,
FamilySearch ™.

“Our mission at WorldVitalRecords.com and FamilyLink.com is to make high value resources and tools available to genealogists and family historians throughout the world. We are enthusiastic about the opportunity to fill the void left by Ancestry in the FamilySearch operated Family History Centers,” said David Lifferth, President, WorldVitalRecords.com.

Link to press release: blog.worldvitalrecords.com/?p=188

3) A partnership with Quintin Publications to host over 10,000 of their CD based databases on WorldVitalRecords.com. Quintin Publications’ partnership with WorldVitalRecords.com, an international genealogical company, will provide increased exposure to thousands of out of print volumes that Quintin has converted into PDF files. Some of these works include an extensive French-Canadian started by founder, Robert J. Quintin, who recently passed away.

As part of the partnership, Quintin Publications will provide WorldVitalRecords with more than 10,000 books and articles. WorldVitalRecords.com will OCR (optical character reading), and index the material, and then make it available on its site.

“My father would definitely be left speechless at this point by the attention
his hobby has received. This partnership opens a new avenue for the next
generation to realize that we are out here and still available.

“We chose to partner with WorldVitalRecords.com because we have watched their solid pattern of growth and felt it would be an excellent venue for the material we have collected and enhanced during the past 30 years,” said Phil Quintin, President, Quintin Publications.

Link to press release: blog.worldvitalrecords.com/?p=187