Getting Organized: What to Toss, What to Keep!

We kicked off the new year with an inspirational talk by Debbie Baker on organizing all of our genealogy materials and deciding what to keep and what to toss.  It was the perfect topic for January, and hopefully everyone was inspired to do a little genealogy housecleaning.

Debbie said, "A good sign of organization is when you can locate any record you have within 2 minutes." What do you think - - are you organized?

Her goal for 2018 

Digitize all of the documents and photos she has, and to back them up in several locations

The following is a brief summary of what to toss and what to keep.

What to Toss!

• Old road maps
• Random newspaper clippings
• Scanned documents with signatures
• Old bank records, tax forms, etc.
• Old photograph albums (not family photos) after you've scanned and backed them up

What to Keep!

• Maps where your ancestors lived
• Newspaper clippings of your ancestors 
• Vital records 
• Family invitations and announcements
• Military records place medals and ribbons in a shadowbox)
• Letters and correspondence
• Diaries and journals
• Phone books and directories
• Family Bible (scan title and copyright page, as well as family information. Purchase an archive quality box and tissue paper to store the Bible in to prevent deterioration)
• Photographs (Scan and upload online to Flickr, Photobucket or a similar site. You can make them private, and then store in acid free archive quality plastic sleeves)
• Personal items such as jewelry, watches, glasses, etc. Store in archive quality containers.

Additional organization tips:

• Find a filing system that fits your style (example: binders, folders, etc.).
• Place your books together on the book shelf. Keep a list of the titles on your phone so you don't end up purchasing a second copy.
• Organize your items by family surnames.
• Organize your documents online in folders so they are easy to find.
• Digitize and back up all of your documents and photos in case the original is ever damaged or lost.

Thank you Debbie for sharing your best tips and advice on getting organized!