Organize It!

For the longest time, I've been wanting a good, reliable system for organizing all of my research.  I've finally decided that if I'm going to ever have any real organization, I just have to do it as best I can and then improve on my method until I have it exactly how I want it and so that it will work for me.  There are plenty of suggestions out there for how to organize your genealogy research, but I really think you have to pick whatever suits you and your style of research best.

So I'm getting started, and though I doubt I have any readers, at least this will help me to keep track of my organizing process!  I have been thinking for the longest time that I'd like to use a filing system, but I really don't have the space or the money for a big filing cabinet.  I'm sure many people have success with digital storage, but I like to have a physical, tangible something also.  So I settled with binders to start with.  The binder I started with was great, but after a while it started wearing out, and as my 'evidence' grew, I decided it was time to expand.  Now I have a binder for my maternal side, and one for my paternal side.

An advantage to using a binder system is that it's extremely portable.  If I want to carry along my research to a family function, I just grab the right binder and go!  Since I like the binder system, now I need an organization method within my binders.  Here's a list of the kinds of records I keep in each binder:

Ancestral / Pedigree Charts

The most basic form of recording a family tree, the ancestral chart is the best thing for a quick reference.  This is especially handy when you're trying to share or gather information from other family members.  One thing you might discover if you spend much time seriously researching your family history, is that very few people really care about all of the discoveries we family detectives are amazed by.  They just want to know family names, if there was anyone famous or in the military, or where your ancestors originated from.  Every now and then you may run across someone who is genuinely interested, but everyone's fascination is going to start with the basic info you will record on an ancestral chart: names, birth dates and locations, possibly marriage dates, and death dates and locations.  These are easy to find.  Just type in 'ancestral chart' in a search engine and you'll find one. For sure, any genealogy software will have a chart you can either print out and fill in by hand, or one you can print with all your information (so far as you have entered) already on it.

Individual Profile Sheet

This is something I decided I wanted to have in my binders.  I didn't go looking for one, and for all I know, there may be something like this out there already.  My home-made profile sheet is one to be printed and filled out by hand, as it is a sort of quick-facts sheet and also a checklist.  Basic vital information is listed at the top of the page, including the individual's relationship to me.  In the middle is a list of records that I have come to derive most of my researching from, or just would like to have.  It also provides me a quick reference to see what kind of sources I have on a person at a glance.  Then at the bottom I left some lines for miscellaneous notes that I come across while researching.  In case, for example, I run across conflicting information or a different date in some way.  If I can figure out how, I will see if I can't put a PDF of this sheet on here in case anyone would like to have something like it for their organizing.

Maps

I am fortunate that my ancestors, thus far, have not done a lot of relocating to distant places.  In fact, one branch of my family has lived in the same county as I do for several generations.  I haven't progressed much farther back than 6 generations or so, but most of my ancestors have been from the same few states - NC, SC and VA, depending on which side.  On my mother's side, they are NC and SC, so in the maternal side binder, I have a county map of both of these states.  The same on my paternal side, which are NC and VA, I have a county map of those two as well.  This is just my personal preference, because I like to have an idea of the areas they lived in.  It helps me to also know what places are close enough by that maybe I could take a day trip to do research.

Copies of Records

Behind each individual profile sheet, I put the copies of records specific to that person.  This, of course, means there is a lot of paper taking up space in my binders right now.  Since I don't need 6 copies of the same page for a census record, I am thinking that I will have a separate binder for census records and use it as a reference instead.  It might be a good idea for me to make a spreadsheet or form of some kind to record the information from all the census records on one sheet to keep with the profile sheet.  Information like education and employment might be something I'd like to have on hand with the other information.  I guess I'll add that to my 'to do' list.

If by some slim chance someone actually does read this post, any organization tips from your experiences would be appreciated!