I wanted to share the goals I have in my family history search and be able to report on each item once I’ve actually accomplished it.
- Enter all “loose” data into my Family Tree Maker program. I have lots of newspaper clippings, genealogical letters and other documents that need to be organized and transcribed.
- Scan all the old photos, slides, documents, and letters in my possession.
- Copy said scans on a flash drive or CD and keep separately from my other items (just in case!)
- File and organize all the genealogy files I have so I can find things quicker.
- Realize what I can keep and what I can’t keep and purge as needed (are those old printouts more up to date then when I printed them 10 years ago?).
- Check sources for accuracy.
Mainly I need to get more organized this year. What are your genealogy goals? Perhaps visit cemeteries, court houses, the Local Family History Center or Library, go on a genealogy “tour”, go through all the old photo albums, take down some oral histories?
Hello Wendy 🙂
Ah! Archiving.. one of the most important things you can do (apart from the backing up of course)!
My goals this year include:
1. Replacing my website (www.familytreeuk.co.uk) with a CMS backed site – helping me manage and maintain the content in an easier way.
2. Dust off my nearly-un-used handycam and actually record some video.
3. ‘Kill off’ a few more ancestors – and by that, I mean find their dates of death by buying certificates!
4. Piling information into my Reunion 9 software (mac).
5. Start writing ‘the book’ that I’ve been meaning to start.
Whether i’ll get any of these done or even started in the remaining 6mths of this year is another thing.. but then, having a few plans is always the best way forward.
I just posted about my big goal… get all my loose papers scanned in and on a server far, far away so if anything happens to my home (in Portland) or to Portland in general at least my research is reasonably safe. I hope to do that by the end of the year. Yeah, right. 😉