Alternative Family History Projects: Improve Place-Names

One less common way to participate in temple and family history work is to join in a newly started project to improve place names.

You can help out via FamilySearch.org or via the FamilySearch app.

• Here is where the project is found on the website: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/improve-place-names/.
• In the app, just click on the three lines icon on the top left and you'll find the project listed as the eighth item.

At the opening screen, you can choose to select a specific country you'd like to work on or you can leave it to chance and stick with the default setting of "Any Country." Currently there are 20 different countries or localities listed. (There were actually 42 options listed just a few weeks ago.) [[Update: As of January 3, 2020, only the following six location options are now listed: Austria, Czechoslavika, Germany, Hungary, Mexico, and United States.]] [[Update #2: As of February 8, 2021, there were 93 six location options listed.]]

• For those of you who know more than one language (and are able to read in that language), this is a great opportunity to use your language skills to help temple and family history work.

Next you'll be given 10 place name entries from family history records. For each entry, you'll select a standardized place name from a set of options auto-populated in the drop-down menu.

• If none of the auto-generated options quite fit, you may need to do a little internet research and adjust what is input in the search bar. (Don't worry: adjusting what is in the search bar doesn't change the actual entry in the family history record.

After you finish the 10 entries, you can click "Done" or get another 10 entries.