Thursday, December 29, 2011

Introducing The 21st Century Organized Family Historian

Compliments of freeclipartnow

In 2012 you can look right here, at The Turning of Generations, every Sunday, for my new series The 21st Century Organized Family Historian.

I'm finding myself in an interesting position in the aftermath of clearing out The Family Home, as the curator of my family's archives. But this family's archives cover a span of over 130 years from the earlier years of photography, a time when letters were handwritten or typed and copies were made with carbon paper, through the digital age of today. Somehow I've got to get this mess mass of information organized so that it will be useful not only for myself but future generations. It needs to be preserved but also presented in a way that will appeal to my children's generation; a generation that was born in the digital age.

(OK, read between the lines here - my house is a freaking mess now and I want to get it cleaned up and get on with life and family history. There. I said it!)

Since I know I'm not alone in this position, I'm working on a weekly series with small projects so we can take baby steps toward getting our family's materials organized in a useful and appealing way.

Each week I will post a "project" that can be completed in one week. These will be based on the many projects from my family archives. Then in a separate post, I'll explain the specific task I chose and how I completed it. I hope you Wonderful Readers will participate by posting comments or in your own separate post with:
  1. Suggestions for how we might go about completing our projects, or
  2. A project of your own based upon the posted "assignment."
I hope many of you will be moved to participate regularly or when the topic moves you. In the process we will get control of this mess err, mass of material and information in a way that will allow us and those who come after to use it effectively in this 21st century digital age.

I'm working on a badge for participants to display on their blogs or web pages so stay tuned...

Related posts in reverse chronological order:

Develop a Digital Organizational Scheme - Week 2
Resources for Organizing the Family Archive
Badge
Week1 - Holiday Greeting Cards

© 2011, copyright Michelle Goodrum

21 comments:

  1. I'll be reading, not sure I can do this from Tana, but, I know I am going to learn something!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great idea! I'll be following along!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a fabulous idea! I can't wait to see your projects!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am so in!! Still slogging through my own mass/mess of material. Can't wait to see your approach and to try your strategies.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Looking forward to this Michelle! I am so behind I have no clue where to begin. I hope your projects will motivate me to squeeze in any few minutes I can to participate!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm in, too! Looking forward to your suggestions.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great, I need all the help I can get.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is a great idea! Thanks for doing it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. 130 years worth of stuff, that's amazing! Looking forward to your posts!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. This sounds great, Michelle! I have a mess of loose research materials. I'm also facing the challenge of cleaning out the family home-which I know you've already accomplished-so maybe some of your strategies will help me with that, too!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I will be following too. I have my mom's genealogy mess...er...mass of documents to organize as well.

    I'm glad to know that there is someone else out there with the same type of project as me.

    I look forward to your posts!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm in too...!! I'll be eagerly reading all your helpful suggestions. I have less time than you to complete all my projects. (I'm a generation older) And...(haha) I will have to take some GIANT steps to accomplish my goals.
    You will have to excuse and deal with a lot of stuff (scratch that) PRECIOUS GEMS that I'll be sending your way...(to add to your pile)
    EL....(stands for evil laugh, not what you think!!)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks for a great way to help me with ONE of my 2012 goals. I really need help deciding what to do with some of my "Stuff." Looking forward to your ideas.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I will definitely be following these posts and when applicable will try to participate. While my stuff is kind of organized now, there are certain "sub-projects" that still need to be handled (a lot of it is digitizing and logging).

    ReplyDelete
  15. This sounds like a great idea. I am looking forward to reading more. How neat that you have your family records even if it seems like a mess/mass of information.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Absolutely,count me in! Looking forward to it.

    ReplyDelete
  17. What a great idea! I will definitely be following your posts and hopefully participating in as many as I can - I am being run out of my home by paperwork and all the other stuff I can't seem to part with!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I am a little late to the party but SO IN! Thanks for doing this and it will help me stay on track with my monthly organization goals! All good.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I am also discovering this blogpost a year later but it's very inspirational !

    ReplyDelete