Institute of Family History welcomes FamilySearch

13/06/2026 09:40:38

At 8:00 AM on June 11, 2026, at 4 Ba Huyen Thanh Quan Street, Xuan Hoa Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, Institute of Family History held a meeting and discussion with the non-governmental organization FamilySearch. This was the third time this organization had visited and worked with Institute of Family History.

Overview of the meeting

Attending the meeting from FamilySearch were three representatives: Mr. Stephen L Nickle (Head Representative of FamilySearch Asia), Mr. Derek Au, and Mr. Jared Wong (representatives from FamilySearch's Hong Kong office).

From Institute of Family History, there was Dr. Hoang Van Le (Director); the Vice Directors included: Genealogist Vo Ngoc An, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vo Van Loc, Lawyer Hoang Long Van, Master Pham Hoang Nam Huan, Master Nguyen Chau Linh, along with several members of the Institute.

Mr. Hoang Long Van introduced the attendees

After the introductions of the participants from both sides, Mr. Stephen L. Nickle shared: "There are many important things in life, but for me, family is the most important," and he affirmed: "Your organization shares our vision. That is, we are doing the work of preserving family history so that future generations can know their origins…"

Stephen L. Nickle (far left) is giving a speech

Derek Au stated, "One of the goals of today's meeting is to listen to your genealogical work and the difficulties you're facing so that we can help each other..."

Derek Au (right in the photo) is giving a speech

Dr. Hoang Van Le presented a summary of the Institute's personnel and operational situation.

Genealogist Vo Ngoc An stated that in recent years, the Institute has compiled numerous genealogies; organized many workshops and seminars; established a Center for Han Nom Translation; and conducted genealogical research…

Associate Professor Dr. Huynh Quoc Thang requested FamilySearch to share information about its training at Be And Youth University in Utah and its experience in handling genealogical copyright issues in several countries around the world, etc.

The two sides exchanged many ideas on genealogical copyright. This included how to persuade families to allow the dissemination of their genealogies to the global community. The most feasible approach is to organize workshops and seminars so that families with genealogies understand the noble purpose and significance of sharing this information.

Regarding the translation of thousands of Han Nom family genealogies, FamilySearch stated that manual translation would be very costly, and the future solution is to use AI (artificial intelligence). However, to achieve this, it requires experts in Han Nom to work on adjusting the AI's translation process…

At the end of the discussion, representatives from FamilySearch and Institute of Family History agreed on a memorandum of understanding to formalize the specific tasks for future cooperation.

Mr. Hoang Van Le is giving a speech

Dr. Hoang Van Le (Director of Institute of Family History) outlined four points of the memorandum of understanding as follows:

1. FamilySearch will sponsor Institute of Family History with equipment for digitizing and storing digitized genealogical documents.

2. FamilySearch agrees to partially fund, or cover 50% of the cost, conferences and events on genealogy to persuade genealogical copyright holders to allow the dissemination of their genealogies to the community.

3. FamilySearch will participate in or organize training in the collection, digitization, and processing of documents in Vietnam.

4. FamilySearch acknowledges and will forward the Institute's request for at least two scholarships at Be and Youth University in Utah.

Before concluding the meeting, FamilySearch also reiterated its invitation for 3 to 5 representatives from the Institute to attend a global conference on sharing experiences in the field of genealogy, organized by FamilySearch in Cambodia in August 2026.

The meeting concluded at 10:30 AM on the same day.