Welcome to NHRI — the National Heritage and Research Institute — a hub where people researching their own family history and fellow genealogists can preserve records and discover records shared by others. By using NHRI, you agree to these Terms.
1. The service
NHRI provides tools for genealogical research: record preservation and discovery, research guidance (including AI-assisted tools), community forums, articles, and related features. Some features require a free member account.
2. Accounts
- You must be at least 13 years old to create an account.
- You are responsible for keeping your login credentials secure and for activity under your account.
- Provide accurate information when registering, and keep it current.
- One account per person; we may suspend accounts that are fraudulent, abusive, or created in violation of these Terms.
3. Membership and fees
NHRI membership is currently free. If paid plans are introduced in the future, these Terms will be updated with pricing, billing, and refund terms before any charge is made.
4. Your contributions
a. What you grant us. When you upload records, photos, transcriptions, forum posts, articles, or other content, you grant NHRI a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to store, display, reproduce, and distribute that content on NHRI as needed to provide the service (including search indexing and backups). You keep ownership of your content.
b. What you promise. By contributing, you represent that:
- You have the right to share the content — it is your own work, is in the public domain, or you have permission from the rights holder.
- You have completed NHRI's upload consent steps honestly: rights confirmed, sharing permission set, and living people redacted. Do not upload unredacted information about living people.
- The content is not defamatory, unlawful, or infringing on anyone's privacy or intellectual property.
- To your knowledge, the genealogical information you provide is accurate to the best of your ability.
c. Review and removal. Contributions go through NHRI's admin review before public visibility, and we may edit metadata, move, hide, or remove any content that violates these Terms or our policies, without notice. Repeated violations may result in account suspension.
d. Other people's content. Records and posts shared by others belong to them or are used with permission. Cite your sources, and respect any usage restrictions noted on a record.
5. Research tools and AI features
NHRI's research features — including the AI research advisor, virtual genealogists, and record guides — are aids to research, not professional genealogical, legal, or historical advice. AI-generated answers can be wrong, incomplete, or out of date. Always verify important findings against primary sources before relying on them. NHRI is not responsible for research conclusions you draw.
6. Community standards
In forums, comments, and community spaces:
- Be respectful and constructive. Genealogy involves real families — living and deceased — treat their stories with care.
- No harassment, hate speech, spam, scams, or solicitation.
- No posting of personal contact information of others, or private information about living people.
- No uploading malware, scraping the site at abusive volumes, or attempting to bypass access controls.
We may remove content and suspend accounts that violate these standards.
7. Acceptable use
You agree not to:
- Use NHRI for any unlawful purpose.
- Copy, scrape, or bulk-download content for redistribution outside NHRI without permission.
- Attempt to access accounts, data, or systems you are not authorized to access.
- Interfere with the operation of the site, including through automated attacks or excessive requests.
- Misrepresent your affiliation with NHRI or with any record, repository, or person.
8. Third-party services and links
NHRI connects to third-party services you may choose to use, including FamilySearch (account linking) and external repositories. Those services have their own terms and privacy policies; NHRI is not responsible for them. Record details may remain subject to each repository's access rules and image rights, as noted on the record.
9. Intellectual property
The NHRI name, logo, site design, and original content are owned by National Heritage and Research Institute or its licensors and are protected by law. You may not copy or reuse them without written permission, except as these Terms allow.
10. Termination
You may stop using NHRI and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, or discontinue parts of the service, with reasonable notice where practical.
11. Disclaimer of warranties
NHRI is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of accuracy, completeness, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose. We do not warrant that the service will be uninterrupted or error-free.
12. Limitation of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, National Heritage and Research Institute and its operators are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for loss of data, profits, or research, arising from your use of (or inability to use) NHRI. Our total liability for any claim is limited to the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim — which, while membership is free, is zero.
13. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless NHRI and its operators from claims, damages, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from your contributions, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of anyone's rights.
14. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be posted on this page with a new effective date, and we will notify you where appropriate (for example, by email). Continued use after the changes take effect constitutes acceptance.
15. Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of North Carolina, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Any disputes will be resolved in the courts located in Cumberland County, North Carolina.
16. Contact
Questions about these Terms: contact@nhrigenealogy.org
National Heritage and Research Institute, 2637 Graham Rd, Fayetteville, NC 28304