How do you organise your family history research?

[behindthefrogs]

The thought of having to sort through nearly 20 years of research IS more than offputtting!!

Spring

I think that this is a very good pointer for people new to the hobby.  If you do nothing else sort out a filing system for your notes a soon as possible.  Something nice and easy to start with like by earliest date within surname.

David

[KathMc]

If you have 20 years of research to sort through, start small, but I recommend doing it. I always find something new when sort through my research. Could crack a brickwall.

[joyce341]

Hi Willow,
               I have georges in my tree,there are" The Hickmans from Gornal and Sedgely,"not my lines,then The Kingswinford,Walls heath etc ones(Stourbridge)
Bearing in mind that there were four brothers,Three in Stourbridge area in 1881 plus Henry,s line (my great uncle)he only had one son but a lot of grandchildren,the odds are pretty high that these are related,but would have to go back from your line to establish or not as I only have children apart from a few these are 1880,s,I go back earlier to 1700,s but not later.
Joyce

[Half Pint]

Hi

New Years Eve 2008 saw me totally disorganised, sitting in the kitchen in tears because I couldn't find some notes that I had made a couple of years ago whilst in Cumberland.  I knew they were there somewhere, but where was the big question.

My hubby who is absolutely wonderful but not interested in my research sat me down and listened to all my woes without saying a word.  He then got up and started to move all the furniture around in the conservatory.  Wondering what he was doing, I got up to investigate and he told me that he was moving all my tools and research into there to give me a base, this included moving my computer, printer, books etc and all my paperwork from three different rooms into one. 

As for the paperwork it was all in four big boxes, scraps of paper, certificates etc etc all mixed together, even my computer files were all over the place.

When we had everything in place, with the boxes just outside the door, he sat me down at the computer and we went onto Google searching for organisational ideas.

I have five years solid research, along with notes going back to my childhood when I first wanted to do it, the big question was, where the heck do I start.

I looked at many different idea's but the one that seemed the best was at:

http://www.dearmyrtle.com

She is doing the organisation, month by month, ie a little by little, which definitely appealed to me and it grows with you.

She sends them out in the first couple of days at the beginning of the month and so you don't feel overwhelmed, the first one is at:

http://www.dearmyrtle.com/09/JanuaryOrganizationChecklist.pdf

One of the good things about it is, it dosen't cost a lot, which is a major consideration, as I would rather spend my money on certificates etc.

I still have a long way to go but I am getting there, and staying there.  Hubby has not allowed me to move any of the boxes into the conservatory, I have to take one piece of paper out at a time and put it in the relevant file, before I get the next one out.  Yes it is slow but after so long of being overwhelmed I now feel in control, which is a wonderful feeling.

The fact that my other half is normally even more disorganised than me, shook me more than anything and I will be blowed if I am going to 'fail'

I hope this helps.

Regards

Half Pint

[pjbuk007]

Half Pint - yes, that really DID help!

I have not  looked at Dear Myrtle for years, but the Jan/Feb/March checklists have rather inspired me - to get filing!

What she says is all really simple, but I bought some more files today, and ordered some archive quality pockets.  I hope to have organised the piles in my bedroom by the time they arrive.

Thanks for a great post.

[kerryb]

Half Pint your husband sounds wonderful, you could bottle him and sell him 

I have recently finished my paper filing at last into nice neat folders and separate folders for all my certificates.  Now I just need to keep on top of it as I download and print out stuff week by week. 

The next thing I need to tackle is my electronic files because I have saved emails etc with information that I need on my tree in order to actually help the tree rather than just being stored and unread.

Kerry

[Ronbucks]

Genes Reunited free family tree software (380 names so far).

BDM Certs etc in Lever Arch-File sub-divided for paternal and maternal Surnames. BDM sub-divided from censuses & other paperwork such as medal records & Newspaper clippings.

[les_looking]

not a lot to add to what people have said or the way they do things, as you have to do it the way
YOU understand and know where everything thing is,

HAVING SAID THAT, you have to remember one day we will no longer be here,
and someone else has to understand it easily, bits of paper/notes are all well and good but others may see it as rubbish and it could end up in the bin and your years of research a complete waste,
in files/folders books and make it personal and your kin would be loathe to throw such history away,
imagine if you had such things from your departed relatives and how much they would mean, just my own personal thoughts, but if you can make it so it CAN'T be thrown away

[BRADFORD]

Hi, I have been on the geni trail for 8 weeks now and store every thing in WINDOWS PAINT .Ant thing that is displayed on your PC screen can be saved by hitting the PRINT SCREEN Sys Rq key on your keyboard.You then open a program you  can work on (I yous PAINT),then I select EDIT then select PASTE.
WHAT WAS SHOWN ON YOUR SCREEN IS NOW SHOWN ON  THE PAINT PAGE. From there you can edit it to your hearts content and save it in MY PICTURES.
I have two folders  for each family name ,the possibles and the maybees.
Save these at the end of the week to CD and you will always have your work.