Family History Library Catalogue (FHLC)

he FHLC is the card catalogue to the entire collection which is available in Salt Lake City. It is divided into four sections, all of which are on microfiche. Most, if not all, are available on the computer; however, for a variety of reasons (some described below), we will discuss the microfiche editions. The FHLC is divided into four sections & color coded at the top of the fiche:

Locality/yellow
Author-Title/green
Surname/red (not to be confused with the IGI)
Subject/blue.

If you are a "first timer" to the FHC, look around for a file cabinet about 24" wide with drawers about 5" high.

Locality Catalogue (LC): This portion of the FHLC is broken down by country, by state, province or county and then by subject. In the case of Ireland, you will find Ireland (federal level), Counties (US State level), Poor Law Union, Barony, Parish, and Townland. In cataloging the world-wide collection, the Library uses a subject list which is common to every country in the world. Unfortunately, a good many of the Irish records don't seem to logically fall under the subject titles which are pre-set. The subject list is alphabetical.

This index will tell you, by location, what records are available for each locality. You should be aware that many records were generated at a federal government level while others, such as cemetery records, were strictly local. Usually, those records generated at a state or federal level will only be found under the broad heading of country or state and will not appear again under the County heading.

For example, records such as Social Security would be found under United States, not under individual states or counties. This is an example only. Social Security Records are a separate collection available through the Family History Center on the computer.

When you are dealing with a foreign country such as Ireland, under the Federal or Ireland level, you will find all records generated by the federal level government in Ireland. This includes records such as Griffiths Valuations and the Tithe Applotment records along with Census records which have survived. Co. Antrim records follow all Ireland beginning with Archives/Libraries and continuing through Yearbooks as the records are available. Smaller geographical designations such as Baronies, Poor Law Unions and/or Parishes will be found throughout the Co.Antrim listings. These subjects continue on a county by county basis through Co.Wicklow.

As records are available, the subject list is repeated for each geographical designation. A typical listing for the Locality Catalogue:

Begins with the level of the record, i.e. IRELAND-ARCHIVES/LIBRARIES. This means you are at the "federal" Ireland level, under the subject Archives/Libraries.
On the right hand side of the entry, it will show something similar to "British Film Area". This bit of information is necessary if you're in Salt Lake City and want to find the particular film.
Below and back on the left side of the listing, will show something like "Northern Ireland. Public Record Office". This is self-explanatory.
Below that will be a description of this particular record, i.e. "Calendar (Index) of government documents". Again, self explanatory.
Following this listing, something such as the following will appear: "Salt Lake City: filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah. 1978.--82 microfilm reels: 35mm." This means the film is at Salt Lake City , was filmed in 1978, has a total of 82 reels of film and is in 35mm format. The date of the filming is particularly important since there are several filmings of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and this is NOT the most current.
Following this listing, you will find the specific title of each record (on the left) and the film number on which it can be found (on the right). The researcher should take great care in noting ALL information found in the text of each listing in the FHLC, as important clues to the records can be found here. Also, recognize that while the holdings of various archives fall within multiple subject headings, individual listings are not necessarily duplicates of one another.
Early in my research, I thought I had reviewed every single listing for the Public Record Office. It was only when I finally found the Archives/Libraries subject, that I discovered listing for the Adair Family Archives (my family) that was literally a 3" thick catalogue of family records!.....Pays to look around.

Care should also be taken to determine whether the film of interest is a catalogue of the record or the record itself.

Although the Locality Catalogue is available on computer through the FHC, it is strongly recommended that the researcher use the microfiche edition. The programming design of the computerized version does not allow the researcher to scan every listing which is critical in Irish research.

The first 14 or so pages of the Irish LC, is a gazetteer of sorts. Don't make the mistake of thinking that all Irish locations are mentioned here. This gazetteer is actually a cross index from the listing in the rest of the Irish LC. If you don't find a listing here for your Irish townland, you won't find a listing for the townland in the rest of the Irish LC. That DOES NOT mean that you won't find any information/records on your family. This just means that your particular townland is not mentioned separately. This gazetteer is then followed by Archives/Libraries for all of Ireland.

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