Under the direction of the FreeBMD Project Founder Graham Hart, this very ambitious project has the ultimate goal to provide free Internet access to the Civil Registration index information from England and Wales. At its essence, the Civil Registration system was designed to record all of the births, marriages, and deaths in England and Wales, and has been in place since 1837. As such, it is one of the most important single genealogical resources throughout those particular parts of Britain. From the website, visitors may enter an individuals' surname, first name, and additional search criteria, such as the year of the event (birth, death, etc.) or registration district. Obviously, such a project would be unthinkable without the help of many volunteers, and there is a place on the site where interested parties may sign up and learn about volunteering opportunities to assist with the transcription of the many records that make up the database.