Earlier this month, the employees of MyHeritage’s Israel headquarters visited a cemetery to digitize gravestones using the BillionGraves app.
We documented over 70% of the entire cemetery, over 50,000 images of gravestones, and it was the single largest event of its kind ever held in Israel. Read more about the event here.
We’re now releasing a video about this project with footage from our trip to the cemetery. It includes an explanation from MyHeritage Founder and CEO Gilad Japhet, who participated in the trip and who personally digitized some 1,000 gravestones.
He explains the tremendous importance of this global initiative and the value of gravestones for genealogy. Our generation has the necessary tools, and it’s our responsibility to get the world’s gravestones online before their inscriptions erode. It’s a race against time. You can see how easy it is for anyone to get involved and help to preserve these important pieces of family history for future generations.
Watch the video below:
Documenting local graves is an amazing way to be part of preserving family history. There is much work yet to be done, as most of the world’s cemeteries have never been documented.
Whether you have a smartphone and are headed for a local cemetery, or you’re interested in transcribing gravestone records from your computer, it’s easy to get involved and your participation will make a monumental impact on generations to come.
Amanda Whitfield
March 31, 2014
Great for you. Amanda