Customer Reviews

The Organized Family Historian: How to File, Manage, and Protect Your Genealogical Research and Heirlooms (National Genealogical Society Guides)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As every genealogist knows, as soon as you start to gather original documents and photocopies and family photos and correspondence and research notes, it begins reproducing secretly, at night, all by itself. Pretty soon, your two ring-binders have become a packed four-drawer file cabinet and you haven't seen your dining room table in months. Ann Fleming, president of NGS and a family researcher of wide experience, wants to save you from all that. The question is whether it takes an entire book to do it. She begins with all the reasons and ways you should organize your work and your results from the very beginning, including a discussion of file folders versus ring-binders, spiral pads versus a laptop computer or PDA, keeping to-do lists and a research notebook to focus you on the particular task at hand, and so on. Then she proceeds to the proper use of those basic research-tracking forms we all learned about in our first genealogical month: Pedigree charts, family group sheets, and research and correspondence logs. In the following chapters, she expands the discussion to more specialized forms and record-keeping methods, including those for federal and state census schedules, courthouse-type vital records, military records, wills and probates, land research, city directories, church records (though I'm not sure how such a diverse body of information can be handled on a standardized form), immigration and naturalization files, cemetery records and surveys, and school and medical records, among others. And all those forms appear as PDF files on the CD that accompanies the book. She recommends you write a research report to further focus you on what you hope to accomplish during a particular project or research trip, including an individual or family timeline, and she makes excellent suggestions generally on preparing yourself for that trip, whether to Salt Lake City or to a nearby rural county. (Yes, you really need to do a preliminary literature search and review what you already know.) The sections on how and why to care for family photos (don't just discard all those you can't identify), the necessity of a disaster plan (duplicate and back up your files in another location, one that will survive the next flood or tornado), and why you should have plans in place for the final disposal of all your work when you're no longer around.

However, Fleming also spends far too much time providing discursive details (and many personal anecdotes) on the interpretation of all these records, which seems outside the scope of a book on organizing one's research. She includes thirty pages of detailed discussion of the questions asked on each of the decennial U.S. censuses, for example, plus several pages on the Soundex and Miracode systems, another sixteen pages of details on American wars, and a lengthy discussion of how to interpret the terminology found in marriage and probate records. Much of this is, by necessity, generic. (No mention is made of the peculiarities of Louisianian legal jargon, for instance, which is of particular interest to me and the other local researchers I know.) She tells you about the online Civil War Soldier System, recommends techniques for oral history interviews, reminisces about inheriting family heirloom furniture, discusses good courthouse etiquette, and describes the differences between microfilm and microfiche, the Register numbering system and how to conduct a cemetery survey. There's useful information on the national Interlibrary Loan program, the IGI, PERSI, and photo-enhancement software -- but none of it really belongs in this book.

Finally, she goes into a certain amount of detail on organizing your information for publication, either in print or on the Web, but what she says actually applies to organizing your genealogical data for any purpose, and much of it repeats what she has said earlier. She even discusses style sheets for publishing and provides a chart of U.S. postal codes (the use of which actually should be avoided in publication). The problem here is that the subject of genealogical publishing requires another full volume in this series, not just the twenty-odd pages at the end of this one.

In her attempt to be all things to all genealogists, Fleming never quite presents a single coherent system for organizing one's genealogical records and materials, either. I don't say she should have done so, necessarily. William Dollarhide and many others have developed and promoted their own schemes, all with good and bad points, and one understands that the series editor wants to appeal to the widest spectrum of possible readers - but when the advice is too general, its usefulness is greatly diminished. It might also have been useful to include tips for designing and developing one's own forms (perhaps by providing templates on the CD) for more specialized purposes, like the UK and Canadian censuses, German parish research, and transcribing ship lists.

To one with experience in publishing, it's pretty obvious what has happened here: In order to keep all the volumes in this series roughly the same size (which can be sold at the same price), considerable extraneous information had to be added to what would have made a good fifty-page section in a different book. Perhaps this one should have been titled *Genealogy 201: Intermediate Methods in Genealogical Research and Organization*. It's a well-written and informative book, but it's simply not the book the title says it is.

What a DISAPPOINTMENT! This book is NOT for you unless you are a beginner geneaolgist. The book does NOT LIVE UP TO THE HYPE ON THE COVER!!!

If I wanted a book about "how to DO genealogical research," this book would be okay. However, this book is SUPPOSED to be about "how to ORGANIZE, FILE, MANAGE & PROTECT YOUR GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH AND HEIRLOOMS" which is what the cover of this book CLAIMS it does. IT DOES NOT!

For example, in the chapter about census records, there is NOT ONE iota of information about how to "file & manage" (as promised on the cover) the information gleaned from census records. The book only discusses what info is supposed to have been included in each of the census years and wholly fails to give one pointer about how to organize your census extractions -- it does not even discuss the pros and cons of organizing census extractions by year or by ancestor or by location much less how to transfer them to the computer.

The author includes only one small chapter about protecting research and heirlooms and there is precious little information that is of any actual use. However, the author goes to great lengths to discuss why the diaries of our ancestors are so valuable and must be preserved --- but any genealogist worth her salt will know that already!

This is a book for BEGINNERS ONLY!
If you are looking for more than a beginners' book, DON'T BUY THIS BOOK!

My money was wasted because I was MISLEAD as to the contents and because I relied on the alleged reputation of the author! If the book's cover accurately reflected what the author actually discusses, I would not have purchased it. The author and the National Genealogical Society have betrayed my trust.

P.S. The National Genealogical Society and the author hold the copyright for this book. It's a shame the NGS is a party to this kind of false advertising! I wrote the NGS about this book. The NGS did not even acknowledge receipt of my letter much less respond!

I agree with Michael K Smith's in-depth review. My very short impression is: The book contains useful information, but it is short on hard advice. If you've never considered how to file information, this book would be very useful.
However, I consider myself to be very organized and logical but I keep coming across a roadblock of how to organize female ancestors. When the female is a fairly close relative, I manage to remember the maiden name and cross-reference it to the married name. But what do I do with female relatives more than two generations back? (my mental limit). I'm not great at remembering computer-generated reference numbers. (And, my computer is not always on.) I need a way to track females based on names. I did not find any helpful hints. Perhaps this is a roadblock for everyone. I can only say I was dissappointed as I believe this is a common problem. There should be a solution in a book claiming to help organize info.
I did like the section on heirlooms, although it is pretty much common sense.

Written by Ann Carter Fleming, CG, CGL, The Organized Family Historian is part of the guidebooks series being published by the National Genealogical Society. Ann is the current president of NGS and a very experienced genealogist. Her book addresses a lot of a new genealogist's concerns: how to interview relatives, how to fill out genealogy forms, etc. If you are a new researcher, you will benefit from all her advice on basic topics as well as the sections on organization. It is so much better to be organized from the beginning! But for those of us how began research before the Internet was invented (Yes! There was such a time), there are lots of good things to learn as well. Do you have a personal business card to hand to people at libraries and conferences? This is much better than trying to exchange addresses and phone numbers in a hurried manner. You can even print some of your main surnames on the back so the recipient will remember why they have your card in the first place. She also gives great ideas on creating a list of the research materials in your home library so you know what you have and won't buy a book twice. The chapter "Objects of My Affection" has lots of great guidelines for handing family photographs and ephemera. The book also includes a CD of the forms and worksheets, saving us the trouble of creating them ourselves. We can use that time for organizing!

I wish I had purchased this book when it first came out. It would have saved me alot of time and effort. I did learn some new tricks however and find it valuable enough to keep near my desk. Well written and easy to understand.

This book is a great help in organizing the mass of data that appears when you do genealogy research. Also included is a CD with various forms for logging in those materials. Beside that, the book offers great ideas for internet use and other search help. I am a beginner and was pleased that the book offered help geared to my level as well as more advanced information. Well worth the price.

I think this is a wonderful, helpful book for the beginning genealogist. I would have loved to have something like this when starting out. The inclusion of a CD rom with the forms makes the book worthwhile in its own. Each chapter really helps a new genealogist starting out to get organized. There are explanations of how to keep records and how to research. Anyone doing genealogy or teaching genealogy should have this on their bookshelf. The book even helps you get organized to write your family history.

Even though I have been organizing my genealogy data for about a year, I found MANY helpful ideas in this book. It was so good that I read it cover to cover, something I don't usually do with a book of this type. I usually just read chapters related to my current concerns. Unfortunately, since this book is out-of-print, I ordered a used book. I wish author would update it, so it could be in print (and probably less expensive).

If you have the 'privilege' of being the Family Historian, you probably already know that this assignment is one filled with papers, memorabilia, and a great variety of research projects. Organizing everything from relics to newspaper articles, to your own findings in the local (or distant!) town, village and city court houses and special places of records, is a daunting task.
This book helps prepare you for this assignment, and gives you many printed forms and spreadsheets you can print (from the enclosed CD) to organize these many tasks.
The book is easy to read, and reference. Specific steps are outlined clearly and concisely. The book opens the door to many other resources available, also.
Note: The 2004 version is the first edition, and has been exhausted from the book store's shelves. The cost of this book is steadily climbing. If a 2nd printing is not offered soon, the present supply of good used books will become even more precious!

I found it a very informative book though a lot of the content was common sense. It doesn't hurt to be reminded of the obvious occasionally. Unfortunately, from my point of view, it was an American reference book which does not concern me in Australia. For anyone researching in America, I'm sure it would be very helpful.