Customer Reviews

Organizing Your Family History Search: Efficient & Effective Ways to Gather and Protect Your Genealogical Research

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

 

 

This book has taken over top status as the most useful genealogy book I've encountered. Although I'm well organized and experienced in research and records management, Carmack's practical, logical approach has guided my work to the next level of efficiency and success. Highly recommended for newcomers to genealogy as well as veterans.

THIS BOOK IS A MUST FOR EVERY GENEALOGIST!!!

Ms. Carmack hasprovided all the information in one book that will benefit allgenealogists. Not only does she explain (in detail and understandable) all aspects of organization in genealogy, but she also supplies a great number of forms that you can copy that makes genealogy a breeze! She is saving me time and keeping me on track every day. I highly recommend this wonderful book!

I started digging into my family's history some three years ago but only ordered "Organizing Your Family History Search" one year ago, because I realized that I urgently needed a system for organizing the mountain of documents I had accumulated. De Bartolo's book came in very handy to learn how to start this intimidating task.

In her book, she describes two main methods of organizing the many papers a genealogist will inevitably collect. I carefully read her suggestions, then decided on one of the two methods simply because it seemed to suit me better. I liked that she gives alternatives and also points out that one might just as well combine the two methods. She doesn't MAKE people go a certain route with organizing their papers, but discusses the advantages and disadvantages of both methods thus gving the readers room to adapt her methods to their individual needs. She also offers plenty of organizational forms which readers can copy for their records. I took them as a basis for designing my own forms on my computer...

This book is especially useful for novices/beginners in the field of genealogy because on top of helping organize one's documents, it puts structure into one's reasearch, giving the reader a perspective for what is useful, and what might be disregarded in the search for one's history. And because it is so adaptable, many people will find their ideal way to go with it.

No one should "throw oneself" into genealogy without this book!

I have been caught up in this addictive hobby of genealogy for fifteen years now and have over the years tried many different ways of dealing with my ever-increasing pile of info and documents. I had tried folders and various types of filing systems; I had even tried my own numbering and coding systems with disasterous consequences; they just didn't work.

In desperation I ordered this book and upon reading it I was truly enlightened. Wow, why hadn't I thought of doing it this way before. The ideas in this book are simple now that I've read it, but they are truly effective. I can now put my finger on any piece of info I require within seconds, which in the past may have taken me anywhere up to two days to find.

This book is a 'must have' for any genealogist, but especially any new genealogist. Become enlightened and organised at the beginning of your venture into family history, don't have to stop in full-flight like I did to tidy up the mess you've left behind you.

Highly recommended. :-)

About seven months ago I decided to tackle an exciting yet daunting new project: researching my family history and genealogy. Although I'm hobbyist and a novice (at best), I still wanted to approach my research in an organized and professional fashion. Unfortunately I couldn't find very many rescources that dug down into various strategies for organizing and keeping on top of the kind of piles of paper and files that only a genealogy project can generate.

Sharon DeBartolo Carmak's book made me feel like I had a coach and a cheering section rooting along with me as I dove into my project! Her thoughtful, organized chapters clearly illustrated her points and provided an indespensable roadmap around common organizational stumbling blocks and pitfalls of the budding researcher. This book helped me to make informed decisions about how to approach and organize my research by outlining a variety of methods for collecting and organizing my research files, handling correspondence, and updating my data.

The book provides handy tips throughout from other professional genealogists and historians, and includes pointers to other relevant resources such as reference books, societies, software and services. The appendices also include useful basic organizational forms you can photocopy and use in your own research.

I strongly recommend that anyone considering beginning a genealogy research project start with this book.

This is not a bad book. Parts of this book are extremely helpful to help you organize your genealogical papers. The probem with this book is that the author lets her own dated opinion keep her from seeing the bigger picture in the state of genealogical research. In essence, she spites herself out of writing an excellent resource.

She has a rather misplaced rant about using genealogy software instead of handwritten and handtyped family resource sheets and pedigree charts. She uses a case study to back it up, which only shows she wears blinders. (The case study involves a woman who clearly would have been disorganized whether she would have used a computer or not to keep track of her research.)

Computer genealogy software such as Family Tree Maker, Legacy, Generations and Clooz, only helps genealogist and amateurs keep track of what they have. A person can look at their information presented so many ways (reports, charts, lists) just by a mouseclick. It is a completely different topic than organization and simply did not belong in the book, especially being ravaged as it was. It would be like someone saying at the turn of the century, that typewriters were not desirable for an organized genealogy file, because you would have to retype everything you'd already handwritten. (Another part of her logic.)

She also only extensively covers storage via file folder. Now, I don't know about you, but considering I live in an apartment I really don't have room for a file cabinet. For hard copies and photocopied documents, I keep 16 one inch, color-coded binders I store spine out in a storage bin in one of my closets. I have no problems desiring more space or any feelings that my organization should be more efficient.

You might say, but you're not a professional. No, of course not. But this book is not a trade publication and is targeted at beginners or at least people who have gotten over that first hump and realize they have to do something with their notebooks.

In this day and age, the author's kind of thinking hampers the reader from taking the rest of the information seriously. Do yourself a favor and read one of the many beginner's books on genealogy (Managing a Genealogical Project, or Unpuzzling Your Past, for example) that gives the same core information with a lot less attitude.

As a professional genealogist who also teaches, I tell my students that the topic of genealogical organization is one that must be addressed by all genealogists, amateur or professional alike. For publishing on this topic in 1999, I applaud Carmack.

However, for encouraging "paper only" research and organization, I fault Carmack. She says, "I cannot recommend one computer genealogical software program over another because, frankly, I don't even use one . . . the reason I don't use one is that I don't want to spend time entering years of research into a computer program. I'd rather spend my time doing more research. I began the days when people were still using those things called typewriters. However, I do use a computer and its word processing program, which allows for greater flexibility in manipulating and formatting data."

Organizing genealogical information in an ancestral database software program with accompanying electronic research log is critical to success! Carmack does not address this issue and encourages readers to stick with the good old paper. Wrong in 2006!

I recommend instead a recent book that addresses both paper and electronic organization by Ann Carter Fleming, "The Organized Family Historian."

This book is EXACTLY what you should get before you really get "into" doing your genealogy research. Wish I had! Instead I found myself being overwhelmed with what I had found and my various tries at organizing it just wasn't working! I did my research and this books looked like it had the most of what I wanted. That was an understatement. I have a LOT of work to do to organize my 1+ years of research ... but this book is really helping me get my act together.

One of the things I like best is she does not offer "THIS IS THE WAY TO DO xyz" ... instead she offers several ways to accomplish the specific task. States why you might want to use one over another and why she uses a specific one now.

Well written, easy to understand. Written as if she was sitting at your kitchen table just talking to you. Highly recommend!

... and frankly, this book does a lackluster job of helping get organized. I had a basic problem with the author's idea that there is only one good filing system for genealogy. I don't subscribe to the numbering system that she advocates, nor do I think binders are the wave of genealogy filing.

I have been researching for 15 years now, and I still find that the best way to be organized is any way that works for you. I gave it three stars for the forms that she includes; they are passable.

I have over 2500 pages on my family history. I thought I was pretty well organized. Ms. Carmack gave me some new ideas on certain ways to organize my genealogy. It's a great book filled with great effective ways to help in keeping your history in a fine filing system.