* Keeping the paper to support the digital

[Devonjon]

Hi

This may come a little left of field for a digital orientated forum.

Something that has vexed me for awhile is that after a few years chasing my ancestors I've amassed a significant amount of digital media plus a comparative smaller volume of paperwork ..wills, BMDs etc.

Whilst I'd give me digital collection a C- for organisation my paper side is definitely an F- 'must try harder' AND most significantly is lacking copies of much that I have on PC.

I've tried before to be more organised and creating paper files but I rapidly got swamped not only in the paper but the organisation of it and the sheer weight of task to get it all in place. File under individual full names names vs family surnames , breadth of contents of files (rely on digital, or in part or not at all) , inclusion of siblings or not ..but then 4th cousins brothers uncle looked after Beatrix Potters horse which is a nice titbit not to miss..etc etc

I guess I fear the day I head towards a death index myself and wonder what on earth family would make of my chaotic piles (of paper!) and 'hidden' digital mass of work tucked in the grey box in corner of office. But being less morbid I have always struggled to paint a picture with anything other than paper notes with relatives of a less digital era generation and even then its a messy disjointed paper chain.

To cut the ramble.

Has anyone come across a decent practical detailed guide or link or presentation of various (full on or lite touch) options for retaining and filing (in the hope of easy and logical find) the mixed media of 'stuff' that a genealogical ramble reveals ? ie: the focus being on paper archiving of people, tree, occupations, GROs, photos, census, wills (which are never of standard size) military ete etc ad infinitum. And including actual different physical mediums of storage used = tried lever arch - hated it, the hang down files never fit A4 well and result in easily jumbled bundles.

I guess I should have more to worry about ...and i have but this has been my flavour of a brick wall for sometime and would welcome thoughts.

J

[jbtapscott]

I sympathise as I have found myself in the same situation over time.

I tried the route of placing each "source" document in its own clear plastic folder (the ones that are open just at the top) and wrote the (then) TMG Source ID on the front. This worked but obviously became cumbersome over time.

As a lot of the paper was, in fact, screen dumps from a website (eg the FindMyPast transcription of a census record), I eventually decided to go down the route of creating PDF files of each item rather than printing to paper. I then ensured that the file name included the Source ID as well as a reasonable description of what it was (eg "S1234 Smith, John W to Jones - Marriage record"). As part of this process I also scanned in the BMD certificates and other "originals" that I had - these were similarly named. This means that I can now move to the next stage of linking these files to the actual source record in the genealogy software and thus enable (if appropriate) the images to be displayed in reports / websites of my data.

The trouble I have found with including the TMG, and soon, the FH Source ID with the file / piece of paper is that the move from one genealogy package to another can (as is the case with TMG to FH) result in the Source ID's changing. So I now have the task of removing this from the file names (a relatively easy task using the appropriate software).

I don't think there is any "right" way of doing this, but I do think the digital route in one way or another is the best. It also ensures you can backup the images of all your source data - there could be a lot of data lost if, say, the house wnet up in flames!.

[rodit]

I have used a variation of the 5 Gen system - see link - , using a 2 drawer filing cabinet rather than the filing boxes - 1 for me, and 1 for my wife. Once it is set up it is easy to find everyone you need. Once you get back past 5 gens, you have to do a bit of 'fiddling' to get everyone in, but they can be sorted out. I didn't go to the extent of Locality files as suggested. At the end of the pdf there is a list of other sites which are useful for paper record filing.
I use it to hold GRO certificates, downloaded census pages, notes and communications from others (including printed emails) and actual photographs.
Hope this helps.

http://familyhistoryandtemplework.com/O ... _Files.pdf

[davidm_uk]

Viewing this from the perspective of someone who spent their whole career in the IT business I ask myself why would I want any paper records?

OK, I have a pile of certificates that I've purchase in the course of my research, but of course they are only copies of the GRO records anyway. When I look at it critically I only have a very few records that have some "value" to me as originals: an old family bible with information handwritten in it about the family at that time, a couple of original telegrams informing of the death of soldiers, some very old photographs with hand written annotations on the back, some audio tapes of interviews with now deceased relatives. There aren't many of these things, and I have made electronic copies of these as well.

Everything is in files on the PC, reasonably well organised in a structured set of folders under my FH project(s), even though some of them aren't actually referenced yet by my FH tree.

The whole lot is backed up on a daily basis to an external USB disk, and another disk connected to my network, and to cloud storage, and every month or two to another USB disk that I then keep at a relatives house. A lot safer than a huge pile (or filing cabinet full) of paper in my opinion.

I guess my only concerns are, when I "fall of the perch" will someone be interested enough to take on what I've produced (including how to use FH), and in 20-40 years time when my kids or grand kids might show some interest in their family history, will the technology have moved on so far that my electronic records can't be accessed by anything!

[Devonjon]

Thanks guys some useful stuff there and top marks to that family search pdf which I'd never seen before. A few years ago I was still subscribed to Your Family Tree and asked basic same question on that forum. Was picked up by the magazine and they said they'd run a piece - alas the subsequent article was quite lame and basic and left me none the wiser and had no links to pre-digital era genealogical filing styles which I assumed would still have much relevance.

Definitely agree digital is the primary tool for organising and linking the mass of data (and my multiple back up at multiple geographic locations is verging on OCD) but short of writing a book (on hold until retirement) the paper side does give people stuff to hold and wonder at even if its a print copy of a scanned will it means more than peering at a monitor. It will also give a better home for the pile of wills (mostly not readily scanned) and BDMs I have.

I really like that family search approach and the detail they offer. I am surprised there isn't more on this subject readily dropping of net. I started off on assumption I could only really 'bequeath' said years of research to a cousins family but thanks to medical science being proved very very wrong (after a 10yr assumption they were right) I do now have a sparky daughter to hand this to one day once she's lost her Frozen fixation.

So I will give it that FS approach a go albeit with a few tweaks. That said the task means I'll post back here sometime 2020 once its done ! by which time daughter will be old enough to tell me if she understands it - assuming she's still talking to me !

Cheers
J

[DragonLady]

I too have had a similar quandary, and eventhough I am somewhat of an IT junkie and have managed to maintain most if not all of my Data across many PC's, I am also a bit of a "Doomsdayer." I am afraid that something is going to happen to technology and will not have any Hard Copies of all of my research. I have it backed up to multiple PC's, a flashdrive, and a portable HD, but what should I do with all my data?

Should I print it off and create multiple volumes? I have traced almost all of my branches back to the 1600's and a couple back even further. To complicate matters even further, my Maternal Aunt is moving to the area and bringing all the family photos from my Grandmother who passed 20 years ago. Oh and did I mention that I am the unofficial family historian and have family members who send me envelopes of pictures and documents when they find them... Heck somehow I ended up with my Great-Grandmother's Wedding Dress (not that I am complaining).

Not sure if I like the File Cabinet idea, but I am also not sure how many 4 inch Binders I would need at this point. My current FH project has over 2500 individuals and 900 families... and that is not all the gedcom's I have yet!!! My old software had >10,000 individuals!!! I am a direct descendent of not just one but two Sherman's from Dedham that migrated to the US in the 1600's. This may not mean much but there has been A LOT of research completed on the Sherman's. Oh and I am a direct descendant of 4 passengers of the Mayflower. This may sound like I am ungrateful, it just means that I have a TON of data on at least two branches, guess how much fun I had telling my divorced parents they were First cousins 8x removed.

So I ask the age old question, short of starting my own personal library or museum, how do I back everything up to hard copies.

On a similar note, has anyone started a website to share all this data, or am I stuck with using rootsweb or similar?

[tatewise]

Regarding shared websites, checkout links:index|> Member Web Sites.

Apart from FH based websites, TNG is very popular but not free.

I believe both Ancestry and FindMyPast support online trees for free, but may limit the size.
The next version of the Export Gedcom File Plugin has predefined export modes for them.
Neither of them currently support automatic uploading of Media files.

A new online utility http://www.zoompast.org/ has a very novel way of presenting trees.
It is free, but its features are still evolving to support all GEDCOM structures.
Shortly it will accept very large trees, and eventually upload Media automatically.
The Export Gedcom File Plugin has a predefined export mode for ZoomPast.

Another option is to save your data in cloud storage for free using OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox.

[DragonLady]

A new online utility http://www.zoompast.org/ has a very novel way of presenting trees.
It is free, but its features are still evolving to support all GEDCOM structures.
Shortly it will accept very large trees, and eventually upload Media automatically.
The Export Gedcom File Plugin has a predefined export mode for ZoomPast.

Tatewise, you are such an amazing fount of information, I will have to look deeper into ZoomPast, thank you.

Another option is to save your data in cloud storage for free using OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox.

Again thank you, I have Google Drive account that is close to being maxed out, but I should look into OneDrive.

So any suggestions on how to start my own personal Museum???

[ireneblackburn]

I found a link to a system via FHUG some years ago (can't remember the name of it) but I am still using a slightly modified version of it. I have a REALLY USEFUL plastic box which holds foolscap suspension files. I bought files in blue green red and yellow and plastic A4 wallets in the same colours

I use 1 suspension file per surname and use the wallets for individuals within that name

BLUE Me, Father, Paternal Father and all his ancestors and relatives, (new suspension file with each new surname)

GREEN Paternal Grandmother her ancestors and relatives (new suspension file with each new surname)

RED Maternal Grandfather, his ancestors and relatives (new suspension file with each new surname)

YELLOW Maternal Grandmothe , her ancestors and relatives (new suspension file with each new surname)

I have a separate box for my husband using the same system (new suspension file with each new surname)

I also printed a family tree of surnames only coloured according to the pattern above and stuck it inside the box facing out so I can see at a glance which box is which, and what names are inside