welcome to the ancestral findings podcast
if you are looking for a way to keep your physical genealogy documents organized as
well as safe join me today and i'll show you a few useful hints to push you in that direction
[Music]
keeping all of your genealogy research from becoming one confusing jumble may seem like
a daunting task particularly when you are first starting out and gathering lots of new information
the good news is that it does not have to be this way there are some simple tried and true methods
of organizing your genealogy so what you are looking for is always right at your fingertips
with these tips you will never have to wonder about where a certain document is
anymore here are the best tips to follow to keep your genealogy research papers organized
buy a three ring binder for each individual family surname in your tree using a label maker
or a printer print out a front and spine cover or label for the binder with the surname on it
this will make it easy to find on a bookshelf buy archival safe plastic sheet protectors as often as
needed to keep all of your documents in order and safe for future generations arrange documents in
each binder by type and in chronological order this makes it super easy to find what you're
looking for with each individual family you never know when you will need a particular document to
show a relative apply for a lineage society or to refer to it in your genealogy research
simply arrange your documents in each individual binder by categories such as birth records death
records marriage records newspaper articles graduation papers military records wills old
photos and such then within each category arrange the individual documents into chronological order
a piece of paper separating and naming the categories is optional but helpful label documents
that are not obvious if a document isn't something like a vital record where it is obvious what it
is and from once it came label the document you can do this by affixing it to archival safe linen
paper with double stick tape and either writing printing or sticking a label underneath it or
above it on the paper if the paper is large enough you may be able to fit and label two or even three
small documents to it if there is no room to label a document on the front of the paper use
the back of the paper to label it arrange binders alphabetically on your bookshelf this just makes
the family you're looking for that much easier to find if you discover that you are acquiring
too many new genealogical documents for a particular family for them to fit into one binder
then purchase a new binder and label it for that family as in volume 2 and even 3 and 4 if you need
the space make a table of contents for each binder you can do this by printing one on your computer
it is totally optional and will need to be updated as you add new documents to the binder but it is
a nice touch that will help other researchers in the future use your binders more easily [Music]
thanks for listening to the ancestral findings podcast be sure to visit ancestralfindings.com
for additional free genealogy resources and weekly giveaways happy searching