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Tips on organising family history papers

Vivienne14

Vivienne14

Kentish Brummie Moderator
Staff member
Does anyone have any good tips on how best to organise family history papers. I've acquired mountains of paper and I've tried various ways of organising them, but I still can't always find that one important bit of paper I need! Is it best to have one file for every individual ancestor? Suggestions welcome. Viv.
 
Good question and one that am interested in seeing ideas for.
 
Hi Viv,

I have a lot of documents and papers which I have put into lever arch files. Each document or paper is placed in an A4 plastic wallet with a printed label attached with date and basic info and placed in chronological order into the file. One way - the emphasis is on date rather than family etc....

Humph
 
I'm with Humph. That's how I've (tried) to organise mine. However......I still get bits of paper scattered until I get around to filing them!
Memo to self: Must be more organised!
 
I agree with Humph ,the only thing i would add is I Scan important doc's then laminate before putting into an A4 folder along with information dates etc within rear of the lamination. YOU THEN NEVER HAVE TO PUT HAND ON THE ORIGINAL.
 
Hi,

What do you store certificates (Over A4) in as yet I haven‘t come across anything specifically for them?

Ray
 
The Baron said:
I agree with Humph ,the only thing i would add is I Scan important doc's then laminate before putting into an A4 folder along with information dates etc within rear of the lamination. YOU THEN NEVER HAVE TO PUT HAND ON THE ORIGINAL.
Click to expand...


yes, forgot to mention that - all my documents are scanned and saved in three different hard drives. Two years ago, I was just building the first lever arch file up. I had papers all over the room, on the floor, table, chairs. On the Fiday evening I sorted all of them into the file and left the file on the table. I came home from watching a rugby match the next day to find my house on fire.....the room where it broke, was where my file was ....... Fortunately the brigade turned up quickly and the fire was contained - the lever arch file was black with scorching, but inside all my documents were spared damage, so now I take no chances with losing such valuable history....Humph
 
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Thanks all. Now fired up to invest some serious time to get all my papers organised. The chronological lever arch file makes sense as I want easy access etc. Like may family historians I aspire to write up the history. Getting my papers into a sensible order will help - I hope! Humph good idea to have key stuff in another place - investment of time and money would be a big loss. Thanks. Viv.
 
Good point Forward on the need for suitable storage for certificates. Welcome any success stories with these. Viv.
 
Forward said:
Hi,

What do you store certificates (Over A4) in as yet I haven‘t come across anything specifically for them?

Ray
Click to expand...

Anything lager than A4 I take to a copy shop and where possible have a copy reduced to size A4 so that it is easier to file in a ring map (lever arch & plastic wallet). And the reason that I keep everything is to pass it on to my kids so I make enough copies and spread them around the family so if one of us does have a fire all is not lost; simple.
 
There are lots of companies who do storage and old items should be stored in acid free paper. I have a great folder which I keep marriage and birth certs in.
 
The way I sotre mine is in lever arch files, grouped by family name. As each chidlmarries, another divider with yet another name goes in. Quite easy to find. Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates are in separate files, one for each kind (I do have rather a lot) and again, under the family name. I don't usually have diffculty in finding anything - at least if it is finled correctly.

I think it is true to say that we each have our own ideas, the same idea does not work for every individual. I pinched my idea for certificate storage from a distant relative - prior to that I had them in the same file as basic information. I find the sparate method much easier as I can find a certificate much more quickly.

Shortie
 
For certificates I use special certificate binders from https://www.genealogysupplies.com/. Arrowfile also do them www.arrowfile.com

I have one each for birth (red), marriages (blue) and deaths (black) in different colours. They each have sets of dividers and pockets to fit. It wasn't cheap to set up, but I had quite a lot of old, original certs that I wanted to file properly.
 
Hi all. Been investing some serious time organising my papers using the suggestions kindly offered by members. I am now the proud owner of a well organised family history. I've gone for the chronological order system, every individual item in a plastic wallet, each item labelled with key info etc and it works really, really well. Shall get marriage certs shrunk too. One small refinement I plan is to add just a few dividers at key important points in the history e.g. WW1, family move abroad. These will be for a few key events specific to the family which I think will help me to locate documents more quickly. Feel much happier about how it's all organised so no excuse now for not writing up that family history!! Thanks for all the very practical and workable :) suggestions. Regards Viv.
 
GOOD LUCK Viv with your final Family History writup.
My thanks also to you Guys & Gals for some tips that I may now use in the layout of my Family info.
 
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