MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT: LEADING US, UK AND AUSTRALIAN GENEALOGY COMPANIES ANNOUNCE NEW VENTURE AT NGS CONFERENCE
The following is a press release received today for “immediate release”:
- FamilyLink.com, Inc., findmypast.co.uk and Gould Genealogy & History announce agreement
- Findmypast.co.uk to take over worldvitalrecords.com.au
- Australian online service will be relaunched as findmypast.com.au supported by Gould Genealogy & History
The National Genealogical Society Conference in Salt Lake City provides the backdrop for a joint announcement today by three leading players in the world genealogy market. FamilyLink.com, Inc.’s WorldVitalRecords Australasian operation is to be taken over by leading UK family history website findmypast.co.uk and run in partnership with Gould Genealogy & History of Australia.
The website currently known as WorldVitalRecords.com.au will be relaunched next month under the new name of findmypast.com.au. It will initially provide subscription access to mainly Australian and New Zealand content. The plan is then to fully integrate both content and features from the findmypast.co.uk website as soon as possible.
Findmypast.co.uk is part of brightsolid online publishing and is the leading UK-based provider of family history content. It is currently the only supplier of the complete England and Wales censuses from 1841 to 1911. As well as developing its own digitisation projects, findmypast already has over 100 existing data licence partners, ranging from The National Archives of the United Kingdom and the British Library, to family history societies, county record offices and individuals. The company already has a well-established Australian presence, and the addition of this website will build on that foundation.
Findmypast.co.uk is already working with leading family history societies and suppliers to offer significant Australian content, with many more records in the pipeline. The company will now be working in partnership with Gould Genealogy & History, whose data will provide the backbone of the content for the new service. Alan Phillips’ team at Gould Genealogy & History, and in particular, Unlock the Past will be instrumental in providing promotion including roadshows and customer support throughout Australia and New Zealand.
Elaine Collins, Commercial Director at findmypast.co.uk commented: At findmypast.co.uk we already have a high proportion of customers in Australia and New Zealand, who love our UK records. This new development will in future enable us to offer even more exciting content for them. And we know that one in three of our customers in the UK has at least one branch of their family that has emigrated to Australasia, so the new service is bound to be of immense interest to them. We are very excited by the prospect of a great new vision for online genealogy.â€
Alan Phillips of Gould Genealogy & History added: We have long felt that the strong Australasian collections with FamilyLink’s WorldVitalRecords and the extensive British collections of findmypast.co.uk were very complementary, especially for the Australian/New Zealand market. We had long hoped for some kind of collaboration in marketing in this region. Marketing both under one new Australasian brand is even better for all concerned and especially users. Further, partnering with findmypast.co.uk will make a large body of Australasian content much more readily available to British and European users with down under interests.
Yvette Arts, Director of Partner Relations at FamilyLink.com stated: As FamilyLink.com concentrates on the integration of the social networking side of its operations into the main WorldVitalRecords.com site, it was a natural fit for two of our partners, findmypast.co.uk and Gould Genealogy & History, to form the backbone of a new Australasian/New Zealand service. We are pleased about this new development in the genealogy and family history space, and see it as a major step towards building a top online service for a global audience. FamilyLink.com will continue to feature Australasian content on its WorldVitalRecords.com site.â€
Subscribers to the existing worldvitalrecords.com.au site will be able to access the records on the new findmypast.com.au site as soon as it launches, and those customers with the world package or the Australasia plus will additionally be able to access the records on FamilyLink’s WorldVitalRecords.com world site.
To see the full Press Release click here.
For information on findmypast touring Australia in May 2010 visit the Gould Genealogy & History blog, or the findmypast in Australia Roadshow event notice for further details and booking information.
As an Australian financial member of FMP(Find My Past) I am delighted about these takeovers. FMP has a “thumbs up” agreement from me. Personally I find that FMP is a company that commits to accuracy and I cannot fault their material, so I hope this continues with their current aquistions. Thank you.
This sounds like a great innovation to have everything under one umbrella so to speak. A goos oputcome for all family historians.
This announcement is just marvellous. Just this week FindMyPast.co.uk started putting up the Chelsea Pensioner’s records and there was a marriage I’ve been searching for hiding away in the pension records. The family I’m researching served in the Military of both the UK and Australia and came out to Australia between WWI and WWII. Incidentally, the marriage took place when he was stationed at Cape of Good Hope.