Anyone who has spent much time browsing FamilySearch (FS) films knows the feeling when you come across a film with multiple items on it. Even with experience, it can take time to find Item 4 in a film with hundreds to thousands of images. FS has come to the rescue with their Explore Historical Images Tool, an alternate interface for browsing films. Here are some steps that have worked for me.
The problem: You searched for a film and what you need has multiple items on it.
You can poke around on that film, or you can try this:
- Open the alternate interface, Explore Historical Images, at https://www.familysearch.org/records/images/
- Click "Show More Search Options"
- Click "Show Advanced Search"
- In the "Image Group Number (DGS)" box, enter the DGS number from the search screen, then press Search Image Groups
You'll see a list of the items on that film. Let's say we want to find Item 4, count down on the list manually until you get to the fourth entry and click on it.
The resultant screen opens directly to the correct item number. You can see that you're viewing a subset of the film by the information in the upper right, "Information about images 197–271 of a capture group that originally had 459 images."
To confirm, scroll down and look at the info in the right pane which confirms "008003590 (Item 4 of 5)" Right below that is handy-dandy citation should you find an image you wish to reference.
Note: This only works for films with title boards having the white lettering on black backgrounds. It does not work for older films using title boards with black lettering on a white background. More info at https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Book_and_Film_Numbers_Used_by_the_Family_History_Library#Title_Boards
