A pop-up FamilySearch exhibit recently helped people in California connect with their ancestors.
The free, interactive exhibit was held in the Westfield Galleria shopping mall in Roseville, California, from May 29-31, ChurchofJesusChrist.org reported. It was the first time that a miniature FamilySearch Center was set up in a North America mall.
FamilySearch specialists, local members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and missionaries from the California Roseville Mission all helped staff the exhibit. They assisted people with working on family history at computer stations, navigating the FamilySearch phone app and using a green screen to pose for pictures with their ancestral homelands as the backgrounds.
There was also a coloring station for children and a map where people placed stickers to mark their ancestral origins. By the end of the exhibit, stickers dotted every populated continent and most countries.
Elder Jorge M. Alvarado, General Authority Seventy and assistant executive director of the Family History Department, said that California is the port of entry for many people from all over the world.
“We came here and created this pop-up so we can help members of the community discover who they are and where they came from and to continue to build the family tree of humanity,” Elder Alvarado said.
Sister Debbie Justesen, an area temple and family history adviser for the Roseville Coordinating Council and a service missionary for the California Roseville Mission, said the exhibit was well received.
She added she was also surprised by people’s interest and excitement as they realized they could learn more about their families.
“The biggest reaction was one of shock and awe,” Sister Justesen said. “The visitors were shocked that they could find family members so quickly, and they were in awe of seeing those names and recognizing that these people were part of their own family.”
Paul V. Scholl, a Sacramento-area publisher, visited the exhibit and was so inspired that he plans to trade his baseball hobby for family history research. He wants to upload his grandparents’ graduation certificates and marriage licenses to FamilySearch so that his extended family can have them, too.
“It was kind of mind-blowing how far back the information went. It was really quite fascinating,” Scholl said. “This is going to really help me engage with other family members. I can see that this is going to bring a lot of families together.”
