Your search for family history leads to this building west of Temple Square, opened in 1985 and free to the public. Operated by FamilySearch, the genealogical arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the library is open to the public free of charge. Its origins trace back to the founding of the Genealogical Society of Utah in 1894.
Over the decades the library moved through several Salt Lake City addresses: beginning in the office of the Church Historian at 58 E. South Temple Street, then the Church Administration Building at 47 E. South Temple (1917–1933), 80 N. Main Street (1934–1962), 100 S. Main Street (1962–1971), the Church Office Building at 50 E. North Temple (1972–1985), and finally to 35 N. West Temple Street. The current building just west of Temple Square opened on October 23, 1985, and cost $8.2 million. In 1938 the Genealogical Society began microfilming records from around the world, and that microfilm still makes up much of the library’s collection.
Today the GSU is more commonly known as FamilySearch. Free to enter, this library holds decades of microfilmed records just steps from Temple Square, waiting for your questions.