Getting Your Genealogy Clutter Under Control

Marilyn Thomsen

A Facebook posting

“Filing…the challenge for all genealogist! My goal this week is to clear a path to my file cabinets. Then I can catch up!”

How can we stay organized as we accumulated more documents but

have less space?

1. Purge Your Papers

• Is everything worth keeping?– Outdated documents– Duplicates– Families that aren’t related– Emails that have been answered– Lists of microfilms and books that are no longer

pertinent to current research

1. Purge Your Papers

Do you have access to this information online?If the information is on FAMILYSEARCH.ORG, why do you need copies?• IGI printouts• Temple work done and entered into computer

and sync with new.familysearch.org• Census Indexes you have already consulted

1. Purge Your Papers Guideline:

Could this item be a historical document in the future?Will the future genealogists find this piece of paper valuable to our family history?Would it be hard to get another copy of this document if I should need it again?IF YES to all above KEEP it.IF NO to all above TOSS it.Guidelines from Organizing Your Family History Search, by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack

2. Digitize, digitize, digitize

If it is worth keeping, it is worth sharing. Digitized documents do both more efficiently in less space.

2. Digitize, digitize, digitize

THE COST: timeHomeFamily History CenterBYU’s proscanner

Quick, docs, photos, slides.First come first serve.Pack a rolling suit case and a flash drive.

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Why print when you can view just fine on computer screen?• Save censuses or other documents as jpeg or pdf files.

If the website doesn’t save (Google books) use Prnt Scrn to paste into a word processing document or a photo editing program (Irfanview).

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• Need to Circle, comment and line documents up? – Use your word processor or OneNote to create a report– Save the comments in your computer database.

Buried Pleasant Hill cemetery,

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