The billions of names preserved on microfilmed records in the Mormon Church’s Granite Mountain Records Vault in Utah are being reorganized and converted into digital images that can eventually be viewed online on the FamilySearch website. In just 10 years, much of your genealogical collection can be within our reach; A genealogist’s dream come true. This gigantic undertaking makes organizing our own digital genealogy archive pale in comparison, but our archive is no less important.
How difficult is it to locate a particular file on your computer among all the digital family records you’ve collected? Did the file name begin with a last name, a date, or an event? In which folder did you save it? What was the file extension? Organizing the paper files we collect during genealogy research so we can easily find them later is difficult enough, but doing the same with our electronic files can be daunting if you don’t have a plan. Our hours of research become almost worthless unless our digital records are easily searchable and retrievable. As more of our sources and documentation are stored in digital files on our computer, getting organized becomes increasingly important.
To manage genealogical records, we want a system that allows us to archive our files in an organized way so that we can easily back up and quickly retrieve files when needed. So keep these ABC’s in mind when organizing… ARCHIVE | BACKUP | CALL.
Elizabeth S. Mills filled 885 pages in her most recent book, Explanation of the evidence, to show researchers how to properly document your family genealogy sources. She went into exact detail on every conceivable piece of paper that she might want to document. Consequently, the format for documenting genealogical sources is well established,
The same is not true for your personal computer. It is completely up to you how your files are organized; you are free to create whatever file system works for you. No one cares as much about your information as you do; this is a challenge Scanners have made it possible to easily convert paper documents into digital files, thus opening the doors to millions of digital documents ready for download from genealogy websites. Consequently, we can suffer from digital overload. Here are some suggestions to get you started thinking about how you want to organize these images, census records, vital records, etc. you’ve collected so you can easily retrieve them when needed.
The speed with which digital formats and technologies become obsolete is legend. There are dozens of different personal computers and operating systems and all of their different versions. Then you have a myriad of genealogy software programs, so it might as well take a long book to describe how to set up a personal computer filing system to archive your valuable genealogy files on any and all computers, systems operating and software programs. But let’s keep it simple and talk about generalities that can be applied to whatever computer, operating system, or genealogy software you’re using.
Backing up your genealogy database is an important part of managing your files. It must be backed up to your built-in hard drive, a separate hard drive or USB drive, and to at least one off-site location. By storing all of your genealogy-related files in one place on your computer, it will be much easier to locate your research quickly, and more importantly, it will be easier to back up your files.
Once a file system is in place and your genealogy software links to the files, it can be difficult, though not impossible, to rename the file or move a file. Therefore, it is important to give some thought to how to name your folders and files; Preferably before you start. After the fact, it is still possible, although it will be time consuming and tedious. You not only want to organize your computer for today, but also think about the future when other researchers may be trying to find a file many years after you are no longer around to explain it. The longer you put off reorganizing, the more difficult it will be later on; it won’t be easier.
Most genealogy programs do a good job of keeping track of the files used as sources, but it will depend on how carefully that file is documented. When you can’t find a particular file through your genealogy program, you want to be able to search your file for three or four different ways by last name, year, location, etc. Unless you have been following a file naming plan, this quest can be very frustrating. The key to naming directories, folders, and files is to think about how the files will be ordered when you search.
If you’ve been telling yourself that you need to get organized, you’re not alone. In addition to the Mormon Church’s Granite Mountain Records Vault project, the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has also begun a multimillion-dollar reorganization project to ensure electronic records are searchable and are accessible, not just now, but for years to come. come. NARA is working to create a central inventory of all of its files.
If your files are scattered all over your hard drive, it’s time to start your own genealogy file and start reorganizing. But before making any changes, you must BACK UP all your genealogical data… this cannot be overstated… COPY OF COPY, COPY OF COPY, COPY OF COPY.