The Perfect Genealogy Vacation: A Week in Salt Lake City!

Each year in the fall, St. Louis Genealogical Society sponsors a week-long immersive research trip to the world's largest genealogy repository—the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. This year's adventure, our thirty-third trip, runs from Sunday, 11 October through Sunday, 18 October 2026, and registration is now open. For one full week, you can enjoy non-stop research time in this huge genealogy playground! Read on for all the details.

Our annual trip includes seven nights at a beautiful hotel, the Little America, located a short light-rail (TRAX) ride from the library. The TRAX stop is close to the hotel, lets us off a half-block from the library, and it's entirely free. The hotel has several restaurants and common areas, indoor swimming and sauna, exercise facilities, and two stores, one a boutique and the other offering souvenirs, snack foods, and travel necessities. There is free Wi-Fi for guests.

We'll have a group dinner on Sunday evening, a Monday morning orientation to Temple Square and the library, and individual assistance all week long from two experienced leaders. A pre-trip hybrid meeting (in-person and via Zoom) and an electronic mailing list for our group participants ensure that all your questions are answered and provide a chance for everyone to get to know each other a bit before traveling.

If you've done most of your genealogy research online, perhaps you've never even heard of the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City. Or maybe you have been to the FamilySearch.org website or heard about the Mormons and their interest in genealogy and wondered what the connection is. And isn't everything online anyway? 

No! There is lots more in libraries than there is online!

• First, it is estimated that more than 85 to 90 percent of all available family history documents are still not online.
• Copyright restrictions and state and local laws have and will continue to prevent "everything" from being offered online for the near future.
• Some books and/or documents that were filmed in the past are available ONLY in the FamilySearch Library because of agreements signed with the owners.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints owns both the library and the FamilySearch website and provides all of the contents to genealogists for free. Doing so perpetuates their beliefs about ancestry and family and makes it possible for family historians to retrieve millions of records in one location.
• Working in the library with experienced leaders to guide you may be just what you need to move forward in your research.

What's in the FamilySearch Library?

• The FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City is the world's largest library devoted just to genealogy. It contains four floors of history and genealogy books, microfilm/fiche, maps, and reference books from every state and most countries.
• A large computer network in the library gives access to many subscription websites and records that previously had been on CDs or DVDs. Some of those records are ONLY available at the library because of the above-mentioned copyright restrictions.
• Very fast, modern digitizing and printing machines are on each floor, allowing you to save files to your own media or to print them on paper, all for free.
• You can bring your own slides, movies, or other obsolete media to the library to convert into modern formats. Trained staff can help you do this; you just need to bring a flash drive or two.
• Professionals and volunteers, including translators, are available to assist you on each floor.

Interested in Going?

You don't have to be working on St. Louis records or live in St. Louis to join us. Each year, people from a wide variety of locations who are researching families from all around the world are part of our group.

Early registration is taking place from now until 30 June, and you can save $100 and take part in all the pre-trip preparations if you register by that date. More information and a four-page registration flyer are on the StLGS website. If you have any questions, please send an email to slctrip@stlgs.org. We hope you will join us!