Genealogy Blog
September 21, 2007
Family history collected and shared
This week one of my cousins came for a visit, which gave me the opportunity
to share my library of research with another family member. Of course,
just because the information pertains to one’s family, doesn’t guarantee
they will be interested. Since my cousin is a polite house guest, he
at least gave me the opportunity to bring out the books.
The “books” are actually fifteen 3-ring binders, filled with all sorts of
family treasures, memorabilia, documents, and research notes. (Of
course, I only brought out three books for my cousin, which pertained to his
ancestors.)
In the beginning, when I first jumped into this obsession…errr….I mean
hobby….I had a stack of notes and assorted papers, growing in a once empty
file drawer in our den. It was a disorganized mess, and to have easier
access to what I was collecting, I decided to reorder the material in a
3-ring binder. After a trip to the office supply store, I brought home
a 2” wide binder, a box of clear, acid-free sheet protectors, and dividers.
I had a stack of those cardboard-like, scrapbook pages, with the peel off
plastic sheet covers, that would have fit nicely into the binder. Yet,
I decided not to use them. In the past, when inserting newspaper clippings
in such a page, I discovered that over time the clipping would affix itself
to the cardboard, making it impossible to remove without destroying the
document.
I used the dividers to separate the families. My father’s family was in the
first half of the book, my mother’s in the second half. Finally I had
a place for those bits of information that we’d collected over the years,
yet either file away in the file cabinet (if you are really organized), toss
in the box with the family photos, or shove in some odd’s and end drawer.
Soon my mother was giving me information; a copy of her marriage
certificate, old family letters that mention pertinent genealogical
information, newspaper clippings, and other family data. Before I knew
it, my book was brimming, and I realized it was time for mom and dad to have
their own books.
It didn’t take long before I needed books for each grandparent, then books
for my husband’s family, and so on. I’ve heard of other genealogist
enthusiasts who have rooms full of such book. At this point I begin to
think of my children. When I join all those who I am researching, will
my children appreciate all that information that I’ve collected….or will
they be cursing me??
(Above photo is of my visiting cousin....taken a few years ago! He was darn cute!)
- BAJH
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