KAYLOR-L Archives

From: Mary Ann Kaylor <>
Subject: [KAYLOR-L] Very Interesting
Date: Wed, 28 Jul 1999 09:27:33 -0500

Might be some good ideas here, preparing for the future :-) Sounds like
work to me, but should be thinking about it.

Mary Ann
- ------------------------------------------------------
Kaylor & Kaler Mailing List owner
Morgan County ILGenWeb Coordinator
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilmorgan/morgan.htm

Sangamon County ILGenWeb Coordinator
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilsangam/sangamon.htm
>
>I have worked as a librarian/archivist in a county historical society and a
>public library, and at times we were given or offered the records of a
>person who was either deceased or decided they were through doing
>genealogy, so I feel I can help with this discussion coming from both
>directions.. In the past few months I have been trying to get my materials
>ready so that when the time comes that I can't care for them anymore there
>will be no problems for my heirto walk in and carry them out. Public
>libraries often do not have room for everything (especially file folders or
>notes and notebooks full of family group sheets and other records) and
>county historical societies often hold only those materials pertinent to
>their area, and both have budget concerns so they can't always take
>everything they would like.
>
>As being on both sides of the story this is what I would recommend.
>
>Before you begin, have in mind a person or person(s) in your family that
>has some interest in your work that is willing to store and make available
>to others copies (at the inquirers expense).
>
>1. Go through all of your materials and DISCARD as much as you can of
>scraps of paper, notebooks of notes (you should have all of them charted by
>now!!!), inquiry letters from people who had no connection with your
>family, etc.
>
>2. Make a section in your file by surname for each family and put the
>documents, important letters, etc. there. (Did you chart all the
>information in those onto your group sheets or in your computer program?)
>
>3. Select the most feasible file container, will your family deal better
>with a filing cabinet or a few boxes? Boxes might make it easier to move
>to someone elses home and can be organized for example into special boxes
>for your maternal and paternal lines, and the same for your spouse.
>
>4. Place your files in the container, and if you have books that go with
>the family or the area(s) where they lived put them with the files in the
>box or drawer. Also collections of postcards, and other materials can be
>sorted by family and stored the same.
>
>5. Sort photographs by family and file the same.
>
>6. Now is everything that is in your family files entered into your
>computer program? (It isn't? Why not? It will do no one any good if it
>isn't retrievable. Get that information entered...including scanning in
>photos if you are using a computer program.)
>
>7. My goodness, if you have a computer (and you must have if you are
>reading htis) now you have everything entered and documented in the
>computer (even your photos and documents scanned) and low and behold you
>can save it to a disk and make it available to a multitude of family
>members , and you can print out in Book form a missle that not only your
>local historical society or public library will be happy to store in book
>form but copies ready to give to the LDS at Salt Lake (and give them
>permission to microfilm it), as well as copies to the county historical
>societies where ever your family might have lived.
>
>If you have general genealogy books, CD's etc. that you need to find a
>home for, my suggestions would be contact your public library, your state
>historical library with a list and ask them to mark the ones on the list
>ones they can house. The how to books, (will soon be out of date anyway),
>CD's, etc. can always go to the Friends of the Library Book sale or to the
>Genealogy Society to use for a little membership auction to make some money
>for the group.
>
>I know this doesn't answer all of the questions, but have decided as I get
>older and more tired that the best answer to such questions is to keep it
>simple. For 30+ years of research, by entering on the computer I have four
>legal sized file boxes of such as above, plus a couple of clipping
>scrapbooks, and a maybe 40 framed photos and it can all be handled easily
>in my will.
>
>Hope this helps. Oh yes, I thought I would put on my tombstone, all
>genealogical data on file at the Kansas State Historical Society (as I feel
>sure they will accept a copy of the book(s) I create.
>Gayle
>
>
>
>
>

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• [KAYLOR-L] Very Interesting by Mary Ann Kaylor <>