Are you resolved to research your family genealogy? Visit the Library and use our edition of ANCESTRY.COM and other resources! Here's an article to get you organized... Happy Hunting!
Your Most Important New Year's Resolution - Get (and
Stay) Organized," by Carolyn Barkley
(This article was written for the blog, www.genealogyandfamilyhistory.com
on January 6, 2012, by the late Carolyn Barkley.)
I find it hard to believe that it's once again time for
my annual get-organized-article. Facebook has recently been full of
genealogists working on their goals [for the past year]. Are you one of them?
If so, I hope that one (or more) of your goals has to do with organization of
your papers and files.
Did you, like me, promise yourself last January that you
would organize your research files and the piles of related papers decorating
your work area floor, or perhaps your dining room table?
How successful were you in keeping your promises to
yourself? Did you actually buy the office supplies, only to leave them sitting
in the original store bags that you regularly step over and around? Have you
piled more research paperwork on top of them? Are they still in the trunk of
your car?
I know I have made similar resolutions every year for
many years, but many of the offending piles are still under the eaves calling
to me in increasingly strident tones in the wee hours of the morning - but I
don't have any supplies in the back of my Jeep. I actually accomplished a
filing and organization project last spring, prior to attending the National
Genealogical Conference in Charleston, South Carolina. In preparing for
research into the Rowell family (of Charleston, and Marion County, South Carolina),
I decided that it was a perfect time to put my organizational suggestions into
action. The end result was a three-ring binder organized into almost twenty
Rowell family groups. Preceded by a pedigree chart summarizing the family
relationships, each separate section included a family group sheet, copies of
census records and other documents, and applicable pages from the Find a Grave
website. While researching in the South Carolina Room at the Charleston County
Public Library, I was easily able to move from family group to family group,
locate all pertinent documents, and add information as needed. (Yes, I could
have taken a digital version with me, but sometimes I find it easier to have
the printed page when I'm researching and to make the updates to the electronic
files later). Based on that experience, I plan to create several other
notebooks, perhaps one in anticipation of my research trip to Salt Lake City
later this month. The Rowell notebook experience allows me to feel virtuous
enough to share, once again, the following tips with you as you develop your
2012 genealogical resolutions.
Before you file the first piece of paper, develop a clear
and easily understandable organizational scheme for your files. My choice was
family group sheets, but how you organize your files should be based on what
best supports your research and your work methods. You might choose to file by
surname, by generation, by geographical location, or by time period.
I suggest that you create and maintain your family
research files digitally, printing them as needed for a specific research trip.
(Some of us exist without paper better than others, and that's okay.) If you
are keeping the files on your computer, make sure your file names are not
cryptic (you'll want to know what they contain at-a-glance later) and group
them in equally well-named folders. (And always - backup, backup, backup!) If
you are keeping the files in printed form, decide whether you will use
notebooks, as I did in the Rowell example, or hanging file folders. If you
choose the latter format, in addition to labeling the main folder, clearly
label individual file folders within each hanging file. This combination of
files and labels will allow you to make adjustments in your filing scheme as
your retrieval needs increase or become more sophisticated.
Take time for some fun. Visit your local office supply
store to see what types of organizational software is available, as well as
what physical folders and storage systems are available for print materials.
While at the store, invest in a good label maker to produce consistent,
readable labels for your physical files. If you lack space for a file cabinet -
even a short narrow one - look for stackable containers that will accommodate
your folders and that will fit under your desk or table, on book shelves, or in
your closet. You should also buy a portable hard-drive to keep your backup
files safe, or consider moving them to a storage utility such as DropBox or
iCloud.
As you begin to set up your files and folders, pace
yourself over several sessions. In order to keep from being discouraged, set
yourself an attainable goal for each "cleanup" session. Tackle one
pile of unorganized documents at a time, and place each document in its
appropriate folder, or scan it into an appropriate file and folder. IMPORTANT:
Handle each document ONCE. Do NOT separate the pile into separate piles and
then even more separate files until you have no more floor space and can't
reach the file container. To repeat - pick up a document ONCE. Analyze its
contents and decide where it belongs. Place it or scan it into its appropriate
file and folder. If you are scanning, decide if you must keep the original
document. Ask yourself if there is anything intrinsically valuable in the
physical copy, or is the information contained in it the most important thing.
If the latter, you may wish to discard the print copy.
Repeat these actions, over time, until you have completed all of the piled-up
papers and the carpet/chair/desk/table you forgot you owned can be seen once
again. When you are finished, congratulate yourself on a job
well doneand admire the new spaciousness of your room. Treat yourself to
chocolate or wine - better yet both - BUT...Make a new resolution to prevent the dreaded piles from
returning. This resolution will not be as difficult to accomplish as
you might think if you employ one basic strategy in the future. As soon as
possible after every research trip, write a research report "for the
file." In the report, set out your research findings, analyze their impact
on your project, and set new goals for any future research on this person or
topic. Attach to the report all the documents that pertain to the research just
completed and immediately scan or place in the appropriate file or folder.
Voila! No piles of stray documents on the floor, no lost documents. Instead you
have an easily retrievable report that will provide you with all of the
information what you need for future research.
To help with your organizational process, as well add to
your knowledge of research methodologies, you may want to consider the
following titles:
Managing a Genealogical Project, by William Dollarhide.
Updated and Revised Edition (1999, reprinted 2001).
Handybook for Genealogists. 11th ed. (2006, but currently
out of print).
The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy by Val
Greenwood. 3rd ed.
(2000, reprinted 2005).
Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers,
Writers, Editors, Lecturers, and Librarians, by Elizabeth Shown Mills. (2001,
reprinted 2010).
Evidence Explained. Citing History Sources from Artifacts
to Cyberspace, by Elizabeth Shown Mills. 2nd ed. (2009, reprinted 2010).
How to Climb Your Family Tree: Genealogy for Beginners,
by Harriet Stryker-Rodda. (1977, reprinted 1995).
Organizing Your Family History Search, by Sharon
DeBartolo Carmack (Betterway Books, 1999).
The Organized Family Historian, by Ann Carter Fleming
(Rutledge Hill Press, 2004).
The Family History Research Toolkit: Forms & Charts
for Genealogical Research (CD-ROM), by Michael Hait (2008, repr. 2012).
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