PRESENTING AND PRESERVING FAMILY
HISTORY: YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU - HOW TO LEAVE IT [SUMMARY OF FULL
NOTES]
©2014 by Donald R. Snow - SUMMARY - Numbering here is same as on full
notes at http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html
.
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
1. Instructors are Donald R. Snow (snowd@math.byu.edu)
of Provo and St. George, Utah and Linda Snow Westover (linda.westover@gmail.com)
of Orem, Utah.
4. Presenting and preserving your genealogy are closely
related. Examples and more details will be in PowerPoints and live
demos.
BEING ORGANIZED
5. Obviously, the very best way to present and leave your
information is to have it all organized into a computer genealogy
database, printed, with multiple copies, and contributed to an online
database such as FamilySearch Family Tree
7. Organizational ideas to consider
8. Links to more information about this on the full notes
BACKUPS, STORAGE, AND ONLINE
COLLABORATION
9. Have backups, backups, backups! Keep at least two
generations of backups and store one away from your home.
10. Including date at the end of
the name, e.g. [file name]-YYYY-MM-DD.[ext] -- makes them sort in
chronological order -- International Date Format
11. Store your proven
genealogy on a website that will remain, e.g. FamilySearch,
Ancestry, Facebook, Fold3
12. Dropbox -- https://www.dropbox.com/
-- free, use it anywhere you can get to the Internet; can allow others to
see it; problem when two people work on database at the same time so full
updates don't get saved; similar websites are Copy -- https://www1.copy.com/home/
-- and Google Drive -- https://www.google.com
-- To sign up for any of these, do so through someone who already belongs
so you and they get additional free space.
13. Ancestral Quest collaboration -- http://www.ancquest.com/index.htm
-- free, allows only one person to check out file at a
time
14. Evernote -- http://www.evernote.com
-- free program
A. Notes go in notebooks which are of
two types
i.
Local -- only on your computer
ii.
Synchronized -- available to you on any computer connected to the Internet
and you can share them with others
B. Evernote is available for all
computers and mobile devices, e.g. Windows, Mac, smartphones, tablets,
etc.
C. Great place to save info, notes,
URLs, research logs, data, etc.
D. Can share a note or entire
notebook with whoever you want
E. Can use a local notebook (only on
your computer) to store your passwords and private data; can make backups
of this type on a flashdrive to transfer to another machine
DIGITIZING AND LABELING DOCUMENTS
15. New style scanners scan directly to flashdrive without a
computer; Lexmark scanners are now available in many FHCs
16. My system of scanning and labeling documents so they are findable
A. I scan documents as pdf's at 150 dpi and
documents with pictures as pdf's at 300 dpi
B. Scanner names files as Scanned
Image-1.pdf, Scanned Image-2.pdf, etc.
C. I use Bulk Rename Utility -- http://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/
-- freeware to rename files scanned "--Scanned-YYYY-MM-DD--##.[ext]"
D. At home open each file to see what it is
and include identifying info at front to describe it, e.g.
SurnameGivenName(birth year-death year)-[Event this supports, e.g.
Birth]-[Name of doc, e.g. Birth-Index-CaliforniaOnlineBirthIndex]-Date on
doc [YYYY-MM-DD]--Scanned-[YYYY-MM-DD]--##.pdf
E. Example:
StaffordAnn(1867-1948)-Death-UtahOnlineDeathCertificates-1948-05-04--Scanned-2013-10-09--27.pdf
F. Set up folders of major surnames and
move file to where you want it -- can easily move or divide these further,
if desired
G. Store hard copies to save in file
folders named "Scanned YYYY-MM-DD"
17. Use freeware program "Everything" to find files -- http://voidtools.com/
-- Helpful to find, rename, copy, run, etc.
18. Can upload document files to FamilySearch
Documents (under Photos at present) and to your Source Box with Tree
Connect
SOUND RECORDINGS, MOVIES, AND
VIDEOS
19. Transcribing sound recordings -- freeware Listen
N Write -- http://listen-n-write.en.lo4d.com
-- more details in Don's notes on audio transcription
at http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html
20. 8 mm movies -- easier to have
them transferred to DVDs commercially -- expensive, but worth it
22. After converting to DVDs may need to change the format
-- freeware program Handbrake is a good converter --
http://handbrake.fr
23. Can extract parts of videos to form other videos by subject
later -- use freeware Windows Movie Maker -- http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/movie-maker#t1=overview
SLIDES, PHOTOS, AND SLIDESHOWS
OF YOUR PHOTOS
24. 35 mm slides -- scan these yourself or have them done
professionally, use 2000-4000 dpi resolution for archiving
25. Helpful information about scanning resolution at
http://www.digitalmemoriesonline.net/scan/scan_processing/resolving_scanning_resolution.htm
and the National Archives Recommendations at http://www.archives.gov/preservation/technical/guidelines.pdf
26. Picasa is free from Google -- even does facial recognition to
help you identify people you may not know yet
28. PhotoFilmStrip -- free program that makes "Ken Burns"-type
videos of your photos --http://www.photofilmstrip.org/1-1-Home.html
CONCLUSIONS
30. We hope this gives you some helpful ideas of how to present and
preserve your information and be sure it lasts longer than you do