This week I have come to realize genealogically speaking, I am a mess! I have close to 3,400 names in my family tree and I have no idea which lines still need work! I was trying to find a name of a person for someone I was helping from my grandfather's town of Montalto Uffugo who should have been in my tree but was not. All those times I said, "I'll add that later" is catching up with me. So, how to get back on track? Over the past year, I decided to organize my Kent family because they have been the most difficult. I began using One Note which worked out so well, it has occurred to me to utilize that for all my family lines. That is a whole lot of data entry though! Then there is the problem of all the "stuff" I have. Original documents from both sets of grandparents, parents not to mention my own documents and that of my daughter. My grandmother Napolitano's sheet music, photographs and misc. items that belonged to her in my possession. I have my grandmother Dewey's fine china teacup collection, quilts she made out of her husband's old ties, photographs, hand made
handkerchief's and table linens not to mention my great grandmother's (Etta Kent Dewey) cedar chest and crystal set and jewelry. I have 5 large boxes full of photographs, many over 100 years old and are rapidly deteriorating. This is just some of what I have been given. I live in an apartment so at some point what do I do with all this stuff?! I cannot keep it all!
I have come to the conclusion that I need lists to get myself back on track. It will take some time so I will have to be patient. I need to prioritize this list. #1 on the list has to be scanning all the photographs beginning with the oldest before time consumes them. Now would be a good time to order that "Flip Pal" I have been wanting! So here is my list:
1. Scan all photographs 80 years old and older and save them to my portable hard drive and 1 "cloud" location!!!
2. Scan all other photographs and save them to my portable hard drive and 1 "cloud" location
3. Photograph and document all objects I have inherited from my family and save them to my portable hard drive and 1 "cloud" location
4. Create a One Note notebooks to keep track of all lines that need to be worked on - One notebook for each main line
5. Organize notes and source documents on portable hard drive and on my web server
6. Take time somewhere in there for me!!
This ought to keep me busy! My next question is, what do I do with all those photographs once they are scanned?!
I feel your pain! I'm working on the same thing this morning. Do you have the photos in protective sleeves? I organized mine in big binders by years. When I'm gone if no one wants them I am going to donate them to a library or society of some sort.
ReplyDeleteLOL NO!! I have many (5-7) large boxes of photos way too many to organize in binders. I have all of both sets of grandparents photos, my parents collection as well as my own. I am hoping to organize them electronically with my Flip Pal but even if I scan 100 a day that will take years. I plan on giving away most of the originals as I scan them. Of course, I will keep my favorites!
ReplyDeleteWow, although that's a lot of stuff, you are blessed to have this problem! I would suggest that as you move through the organization of your collection that you take care of photos/items that need the tales of older folks first. My grandmother has several items from previous generations and the stories have been lost as relatives die. What about a photo book for your collection?
ReplyDeleteHeather, I actually made several large scrapbooks for both my parents as gifts for Mother's Day and Father's Day over the years. The scrapbooks are filled with pictures of people and places and stories too. I have those now too! LOL
DeleteI love the fact that the software I'm using (Family Tree Maker 2012 V2 for Mac) uploads all my media to my tree on the Web. So all I do is scan my photos and add them to my tree and they are online/in the cloud. My Apple Time Capsule then backs up my entire MacBook Pro every hour, so all my precious media is also backed up to an independent drive as well as my laptop's hard drive. I then store the original away... where and how, I have yet to decide too!!!
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