January 11, 2009
TRACING OUR
ROOTS
new year’s resolutions: Kept or Ignored
by Brenda Kellow, B.A.
Did you make
one or more New Year’s resolutions? If one of them was to get organized, here
are a few tips to get you started.
Seldom do I
make New Year’s resolutions, except for the usual one I have made for over 25
years. I always start my new year by searching for a three of the families I
have had trouble finding for years. In this case, I have hit a brick wall with
one or more of the people in the Stibbens, Masters and Gentry families. I have
searched for answers to these families for years with no luck. I don’t want to
just stop looking when so much is coming online each year. That is why I have
devised a plan for each January—try to find the answers to the secrets that will
unlock one more generation of these three families. I search everything new in
print and the major databases on the Internet, but only for the month of
January.
Organization is
important and always high on my list. Filing and keeping things in their place
is a demanding job and one that plagues me throughout the year. Professional
organizer Vicky White says if you are organized, you have no clutter. She
defines clutter as,
“unfinished,
unresolved, unused, tolerated” clutter that “keeps you stuck in the past.
Clutter is emotional constipation, keeping you stuck in the past.” We
genealogists want to find our past, not be stuck in it. So, get motivated.
I start with my
desk and bookshelves. Clearing off the pile of journals on my desk either read
or partially read is always first on my list. Also, the stack of CDs are only
about an inch and a half tall, but these have a place, and just sitting on my
desk is not where they belong.
The multiple
tools and supplies—pencils, pens, markers, staplers and manuals—take up space
and does not belong on my desk. A couple of pencils, pens and markers are all I
need. Extra staplers, cords, and file folders go into the box of office supplies
or in my travel case. The manuals belong in their spot on the shelf. Are you
wondering whether I keep up the organization throughout the year? No, sometimes
it doesn’t last until the end of the month. However, I am motivated to restrict
my piles of journals and manuals to one pile and the stack of CDs never exceeds
three inches. Often during the year I hear a voice say, “Pile, don’t file.” I do
try to keep things filed because clutter bothers me.
Many years ago
when I began my family history research, we filed our findings in three-ring
notebooks and those sit on the bookshelf in alphabetical order by surname. Few
of these have that information entered into the computer because I had no
computer back then. To take the time to put this information in my database
would take years and I rebel against spending the time. As I get to a stopping
place on a surname, I file all the important copies and data in filing cabinets
marked Surnames “A-M” and “N-Z. Another filing system includes important
articles on particular subjects. These are alphabetical and in filing cabinets
labeled Subjects.
My electronic
filing is much the same. My genealogy picture files are much the same as my
paper files. Under My Pictures are categories such as Genealogy, Family
Vacations, Societies and Groups, Parties, Research Trips, etc.
You probably
use a different filing system and that is fine. Use what you can work with
easily.
What is your filing system? I really would like to know. What motivates you
to organize? What keeps you from being organized? Would some of you new to
genealogy research and those who have more advanced filing systems share them
with me for an article I am writing for a genealogy journal?
I would appreciate your sharing your file systems with me. Sharing is how
we learn and progress in the genealogy field.
Brenda Kellow has a bachelor's degree in history,
teaches, and lectures on genealogy. Before retiring to publish her family’s
histories in 2007, Brenda held certification as a Certified Genealogist and as a
Certified Genealogical Instructor. Send reunions announcements, books to review,
and genealogy queries to: TraceRts@verizon.net.
