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This weekend, Findmypast are opening up their archives and giving unlimited free access to billions of records and newspaper pages from all over the world. That means that between 7am (EST) on Friday, March 6 and 7am (EST) on Monday, March 9, absolutely everyone will have access to a comprehensive collections of historical records and innovative research tools, including:

• The largest collection of Irish family history records available online

• Over 900 million census records from across the Ireland, USA and UK

Birth, marriage and death records dating back to the 18th century

Military records covering conflicts that include the 1916 Rising and the American Revolutionary War

• Historical newspapers from across the world, including more than 7 million Irish newspaper articles from as long ago as 1748

• An easy to use online family tree builder which allows you to import and export your tree if you’ve built it elsewhere

• An automatic Hints feature, which automatically searches records for you and suggests potential matches to the people you add to your family tree

As well as millions of other records that will give everyone the opportunity to explore their family history and bring their past to life.

Webinar and new Getting Started video

To celebrate International Women’s Day, at 11am EST on Sunday 8 March, Findmypast will be hosting a webinar on searching for women in their historical records. As, historically, women’s names changed or were not recorded, finding female ancestors can be tricky. This webinar will help users trace maternal lines and get further with their family tree.

Extended access for existing users

It’s not only new users who will be able to take their family history research further this weekend. Those with current Findmypast Local subscriptions (with an active US & Canada, Ireland, Britain, or Australia & New Zealand subscription) will be able to access Findmypast’s historical World records during the free access weekend, and those with active World subscriptions will have an additional three days added on to their subscription.

Find out more at Findmypast’s Free Weekend page.

For more stories on tracing your Irish heritage from Findmypast click here.