What have I been doing in October?

Today is the second last day of October and I see that I have only blogged twice. So what have I done that has been keeping me away from blogging? Paid work, work, work! I have not had time to look at my TNG website which I had hoped to have live by now. (Perhaps a job for the Christmas break!)

However, I have been able to grab some time to scan documents - something that I really needed to do. I kept putting it off because I wasn't happy with my electronic filing system. Originally I had my files prefixed with the ID number from Reunion for each individual. However, earlier this year I decided to combine some of my Reunion files. I had one family file for my husband but three for my side. I have now combined my three and have spent many hours merging the identical people. I'm now happy with this part of my research. Of course, after merging the files the ID numbers changed so my filing system was useless.

I asked Geniaus earlier in the year to describe her filing system. I also purchased an ebook titled Sassy Jane's Guide to Organizing your Genealogical Research Using Archival Principles by Nancy Loe. After reading the rational for her method I have decided to go with that for my documents. I'm still undecided and thinking about photos.

For today I'll talk only about the specific sources of information. The image below shows how I file this data. I have two identical folders for myself and my husband.






If I have several items that pertain to a specific family they have a surname folder in the above folders. Each individual document is saved by SURNAMEChristianName with appropriate ending including an abbreviation for the newspaper (if this is the source) and the date. This does mean that all the documents about an individual can be spread over several folders. However, using Spotlight on my Mac means I can find them all very quickly and in Lion get a preview of the document without opening it. This means I can see what birth certificates I have very quickly. I can see what obituaries I need to find.

Now that I am satisfied with my system, I have begun to scan. I am nowhere near complete, but I have made significant progress and have refound many items of interest which I will share on this blog. You know, the items that have been placed in a box, ready to file!

Can anyone see anything I have overlooked in my system. Or is anything not readily obvious? While writing this I realise I need to have an authority control document for consistency particularly for my newspaper abbreviations which are clear to me but not to others.

Now off to breakfast to celebrate my husband's birthday. He's wearing his new R.M. Williams boots!

Comments

  1. I am using Nancy Loe's "Sassy Jane e-book" too. I knew it would be good because I've seen the great advice she gives in her blog.

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  2. Work is such a pain when it gets in the way of fun but at least your work is fun too.

    Congrats on the filing system. I can't see anything missing but the beauty of this system is that it it DYNAMIC - easy to change along the way.

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