I'm Female So I Can Change My Mind RIght?

When I started working on my family history research over 20 years ago,  technology was not what it was today.  DVD's and flash/thumb drives were unheard of, let alone all these digital images being posted all over the web.  We've come along way!

At the outset of this journey, I made decision about how I wanted things set up.  My poor husband, Mr. Brown Eye's thought we'd made these decisions about how things were set up and they were set in gold...  or so he thought.

As I continue down this road, as technology changes, I keep rethinking the way I do things.  In several of my posts I discussed my research notebooks.  Bound notebooks with maps and lists in them for my research trips.  I'm now working on trying to "construct" one on my iPad.  Only time will tell. 

But other things have changed as well.  I'm rethinking the way I am linking & naming images, the way I enter things in different fields, and how I record my notes and research paths.  Mr. Brown Eyes is probably more involved in my research than most spouses so it does involve him.  The poor man hates change and I seem to thrive on it.  But I think that change is a good thing, and re-evaluating how my data base serves me, well that's a good thing too! 

After all, I am female so I can change my mind if I want right?

Lists, Lists & More Lists

Are you a list maker?  I am! I have to do lists for everything.  Shopping, future projects, places I need to go, things I need to do.  Being a genealogist it seems I'm always working on a list of some sort.

This week I've been working on my lists for upcoming trips.  We're not doing trips around the world or anything but you must admit that being prepared aka having a good list is the foundation for a successful research trip. 

Tomorrow we are headed out to Miamisburg, Ohio to do some research on my Gebhart & Early families that lived in that area.  So I've got an extensive list of people who need obits.  While I am pulling newspapers to search & copy, Mark will be going thru the books looking for mention of them there. 

Other lists that are in progress include one for next Tuesday's trip to Fort Wayne and then for our vacation trip I'm working on lists for Pennsylvania (Dauphin, Berks, Lancaster & Schuylkill Counties) and the North Carolina State library & the Archives there as well.  Also hoping to do some work in West Virginia and Ohio along the way. 

Fortunately I don't need them all today.  Most are an ongoing thing in my genealogy software, Legacy.  When I do an obit list I take them out of the software and put them on an excel spreadsheet so they are in chronological order, making two copies, one for me and one for the librarian or Mark, depending on who is pulling the films for me.  Otherwise I use them straight from Legacy.  I print them, bind them in one of my research notebooks and then we are good to go! You can check out the research notebook & obit list by clicking on the link and scrolling down.  Both are there within a few days of each other.

Lists for research trips - they're a good thing!  How do you arrange your lists for your trips?  Do you use them the way your software presents them or customize them for yourself?  I'd like to hear how you do your lists.

Wisdom Wednesday - Research Trips

Each year in mid January we start discussing our vacation plans for the year.  Usually has something to do with research trips.  The genealogists trip to Mecca - where ever that might be for you.  For me, its where I really need to travel to for research. For things I can't get on line or at my local libraries.

I'm a big believer in planning & to do lists.  For me the success of my trip totally depends on pre-trip planning. 

Below are some tips I believe help make your research trip to Mecca the best it can be.

1. Define where Mecca is. Locate maps of area, location of archives & record centers, to provide easy access from hotel. 
2. Consider hotel rates vs different times of year. Rates can vary greatly.
3. Define your goals for trip.  What exactly is it that you hope to accomplish by traveling there to research?
4. Figure out the best location for acquiring the records you need. Check for historical societies, newspapers, libraries, archives etc.
5. Contact those institutions or their websites for more info.  Email with your questions if not answered on website. Pay attention to hours & days available. It may impact your travel plans.
6. Spend some time in your data base determining which families you will be working on & what it is that you are looking for.  Going in with no plan usually results in no gain.
7. Posting notes on listserves for that county may get you information on best times to visit record centers & libraries as well as information on where to eat,  area's of town to avoid etc.
8. Assemble all your information in a bound notebook along with your detailed to do list.  Bound is best so there's no mix ups!  You can see my post on the research notebook here.

Happy Researching!
Karen

Research Notebooks

Back a month or so ago I mentioned the research notebooks that I assemble when going on a research trip. I do take my laptop, but often the laptop is in use by my DH who is busy entering data for me or I didn't decide to take it into the repository where I am working.

The black "combs" you see are the 2 inch size, I get them at my local office supply or if you can't bind it yourself the office supply can bind for you in a comb that fits properly. These have a locking feature so nothing accidently comes open. They also lay flat so its easy to work with & write in.

The research notebooks are great - being comb bound means that if you drop it everything stays intact, no messed up papers. I index the material in the notebook, divide it up by County or repository depending on the length of the trip and number of stops. If I have cemetery stops to make my cemetery search lists are also included in the notebook. Group sheets on the families I will be working on are included along with printouts on the repositories & libraries I will be visiting. The photo above shows some of the lists & print-outs ready to be put into my notebook for this trip.

The photo directly above this text shows a completed notebook, open to some family group sheets. Note the handwritten notes. Once the notes that I have written in the notebooks have been typed in I place a red strike (line) thru the information & I know I've put it in the computer. Many times I continue to use the notebook as a "workbook" long after the trip is done. They are a great way to see the "holes" in your research. I do love my laptop but many times "holes" get lost in the computer and its hard to see exactly where you really need to be working!
Recap of notebook contents:

• Maps
• Repository/library printouts
• Cemetery search lists
• to do lists for each county
• Pedigree charts for lines in area
• Family group sheets on lines of interest
• Blank family group sheets & blank pages for notes
• hotel reservations (w/o credit card info)
• any other pertinent information I might need
  

I use maps alot when I do research trips so there are always quite a few of them in the research notebook. This one below shows the state of Pennsylvania, with the counties I am researching in outlined for clarity. At a glance I can see where other counties are that might affect my research any given county. This particular one came from William Dollarhide's book, Map Guide To the US Federal Censuses, 1790-1920. Very clear and easy to use! To finish off the book I add an index of where everything is in the notebook, and then close it off with a white cover so I can list the surnames & dates of the trip, a dark cover on the back helps the notebook look cleaner & hold together better. For durability I use cardstock on the covers rather than regular paper.

If you have any questions about the research notebooks feel free to drop me a line or leave me a comment on the blog & I'll get back to as soon as I can. Hopefully someone will get something from this little tutorial, I never really thought anyone else would be interested.

To all of my followers who may be moms - I hope you have a wonderful mother's day this Sunday. Spend some time with those who matter most, & most important be sure to make some time just for you! Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Researching!
Karen

Research Trip - Research Notebooks

In yesterday's post I mentioned that in order to better prepared for my research trip I put together research notebooks.

So today we're going to talk about my research notebooks.

Part of the prep for my trips begin with pre-trip research. What families I am going to work on? Where did they live? What do I know? What vital information am I missing?

So I go into my data base and I determine the answers to those questions. At this point my questions & answers look like this:

• What families am I going to work on? Gish, Early, Gebhart, Kreitzer, Wenger, Huber
• Locations? Lancaster & Berks County, Pennsylvania - with a bit of wandering over the county lines at points.
• What do I know? I actually know quite a bit, but I do have holes that need to be filled in on the direct lines.
• What vital records am I missing? There are marriage records I need to find & I'd love to get into some baptismal records as well.

Now with that information I go into my data base and gather together the families I want to locate information on. Depending on your software, you should be able to "publish" a book of sorts. My software allows me to put in descendancy charts, time lines, family group sheets and a narrative on the line. You could also add a copy of your to do list if your software allows you to keep one. I make sure to allow it to index it all for me.

I print that all off, supplementing with the pages I printed from both the historical societies I want to go to, and a few maps I found on line. Organizing it all I then get out my handy comb binder and bind it all together, using card stock for the back & front covers. You could use a regular notebook if you wish. The reason I suggest binding it - have you ever dropped a folder of loose papers? 'Nuff said!

By keeping everything neatly bound its nicely organized and everything is at your fingertips. No shuffling through folders. I even toss in a few empty pages so I have places to write as well. I don't use the notebook with the sheet protectors is I hate having to take pages out of the sheet protectors to jot down my notes. And boy can I take notes.

I take weekends off so we'll talk more about the research prep perhaps next week? With this being the final weekend of tax season it will be busy here for sure! I'll try to get some pics taken of the research notebook and get that post up one day next week. Till then I'd love to hear any comments or suggestions on HOW YOU PREP for a research trip!

Happy Researching!

Karen