Spring Is Supposedly Here and My Spring Organization Fever is High

Supposedly Spring is here. I don't know about you but we have about 3 to 4 feet of snow still on the ground and yesterday we had a blizzard. Mother Nature's being very cruel this year. But the good thing about Spring is that suddenly I'm hit with a burst of energy and a strong desire to ORGANIZE!

Yep, every year I go through this. During the long winters I sit and think about the mess of my genealogy files. Every year I come up with a new way to organize them. Sometimes I go back to old ways, long discarded as not working. I've tried binders by surnames, binders by topics, pdf files on my computer, file folders by surname, file folders by topics... in short I believe I've tried every possible organizational method there is. In fact I've blogged about getting organized many times.

But I'm never happy. These past couple of years I've discovered quite a bit of detail (newspaper clippings, parish and church records, land petitions and so on) for several of my ancestors. I've also scanned many original documents in my possession. That's what made me realize my genealogy is getting out of hand. I'm overwhelmed by the sheer volume of my findings.

Hubs is in the same boat. He doesn't even remember who many of his further back ancestors are or what we know about them. So today we made a decision that starting this week we are going to set aside a minimum of one hour every day to sort, print and organize our genealogy files.

I'm going back to one of my very first methods that I used many years ago - binders. These binders will only be for my direct lines. However I'm not going to print genealogy reports or notes for my ancestors. Instead I plan to print a family group sheet for each of my direct ancestors. then print copies of all the documents I have for the parents on the family group sheet.

I suspect I will end up with many binders - each one holding ancestors sharing one surname for all generations. Ancestors whose data is skimpy will share a binder with other less detailed ancestors.  I'm not going to put all the siblings in these binders. I have them on my genealogy program and in my paper files and in my digital files so that will suffice for now.

For me it's about narrowing my focus, not expanding it! I tend to get carried away and research all siblings of every direct ancestor. Don't get me wrong, that is a very valuable research technique as it provides you with clues and information you may not find if you only research your direct. But I don't need to organize all those siblings into a binder.

So wish us luck! I have no idea how many weeks or months this will take but I'm excited about starting. 

Spring Cleaning Your Genealogy

Well, it's April and a perfect time for Spring Cleaning. Spring cleaning your genealogy that is! If you are like me, your genealogy files are in a mess.

I have filing cabinets chock full of file folders which are chock full of papers.

I have dozens of clear plastic tubs full of assorted genealogy papers.

I have a desk that defies the laws of gravity with its towers of papers.

In short I have a mess that I have the best intentions every year to clean up.

But this year it's going to be different. Here is my plan. And yes, I've already started on it!

1. Purge my file folders first. Go through each folder and ruthlessly toss papers I truly do not need anymore

2. Reorganize the papers that I have in the now purged file folders. Make sure I have sorted the remaining papers into groups other than "Assorted" or "Miscellaneous". I want each family to have folders for census, vital stats, land records and so on. So I will sort by such titles as PEER FAMILY - CENSUS; PEER FAMILY - LAND RECORDS etc. Everyone has their own organization method. The key is to choose yours and then be consistent.

3. Using my beloved labeller, print off all new file folder labels. Large print, easy to read.

4. Now attack the tubs of loose papers. That's a huge job but it needs to be done. Sort, organize, toss, and file.

5. Next attack my gravity defying stacks of paper on my desk. Same deal - sort, organize, toss and file. Create more file folders if needed.

6. At this point your office should be looking a whole lot neater! Next is a monumental task but extremely important and one I am very very bad at. Go through each file folder and ENTER DATA into your genealogy program! Check every single piece of paper, every document. Have you entered it? If not, do so. Now, this minute.

This is not a one day or even one month job. My spring cleaning of my genealogy is going to take me a few months but I'm determined to do it. No more file folders labelled "Miscellaneous". No more opening a file folder labelled "New York Families" and finding my Ontario Vollick line in there. No more hunting for hours for that one land record I know I have - but can't remember where I put it.

I've already started. Last month I purged. It was so hard to do, I always have the certainty that I will toss out paper that next week I'll find I need. But I did it. I purged and I reorganized my folders and I re-labelled everything.

Saving the worst for last, I now have to go through all my odds 'n ends of paper which cover every square inch of available furniture in my office, and are in tubs stacked 3 high. Maybe I'll have it done by Christmas!