Preserving History: How Digital Are Your Records?

If you have ever received a bad file in email or a great big box of outdated floppy discs made by a distant and now dead cousin, you will appreciate the following article.  Actually, you'll enjoy reading the article even if your files have been pristine.

Preserve often--  preserve well..........

The link in the Dick Eastman article will take you to the white paper.  Read it, ponder the super information presented--  and then join me as I search for an achival data reader..........

The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at http://www.eogn.com.

I have written several times about the advantages and disadvantages of storing records digitally for many years, both your personal records as well as the holdings of major archives and records repositories. Now Gary Wright, an employee of FamilySearch, has written a definitive whitepaper on the subject that explains the issues involved with digital archiving. He describes in detail the pitfalls of digital storage of priceless paperwork and of old family photographs that have been digitized. As he explains, if done right, digital archives will last for decades. If done wrong, they may not last three years.

I had a chance to read this whitepaper a few weeks ago when Gary circulated it amongst a number of people in the industry, asking for our comments. I told Gary at that time that he had to publish it on the web and, when he did, to please let me know the address so that I could inform the readers of this newsletter. After all the comments were in, Gary did exactly that. White Paper: Preserving Your Family History Records Digitally is now available on the FamilySearch.org web site at https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/White_Paper:_Preserving_Your_Family_History_Records_Digitally

I would suggest you read this whitepaper and consider the information within it carefully. Then forward copies to all your genealogy friends, society members, and anyone else with an interest in genealogy. I think every genealogist as well as every person who has heirloom documents and photographs in his or her possession should read White Paper: Preserving Your Family History Records Digitally at https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/White_Paper:_Preserving_Your_Family_History_Records_Digitally




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Ahh genealogy. How do I digitize?  Let me count the ways........









©2010 AS Eldredge

Looking for Traces of Me

Just today, I received a lovely present in the form of a painting. Now, I didn't get the original painting; however, I did get something even better. A digital copy!

This picture of the painting allows me to really zoom in on the features of the subject. The subject in the pictures is none other than the brother of my 4g grandfather, of whose surname I was born with. There have been so many generations of male blood passed down that I am looking intently at the photo to see if I can find any feminine traces of me.

Do I see any trace of me? Why, I think I do in the shape of the mouth. Cool.

Of course, I think my left side is my better side for pics and the subject chose his right. No matter. We're kin.

Genealogy. Ya just gotta love it! And copies of the documents or photos are just fantastic!

Feeling the Old Country in Your Bones?

Feel like doing some genealogy digging in the old country? You're in luck today if your old country is Sweden. Today, it's free.

Go try out Arkhiv Digital. You do have to register first-- and then download a program-- but then you get to go and look at some old estate records in living (or rather, dead) color! In addition, AD is also trying to photograph all the church records thru 1894.

As genealogy buffs, we know how valuable it can be to see a digital photograph of records, and as Swedish descendants, we know how valuable the Swedish Parish records are to our research.

AD is even running a special from now until the end of the year. I do suggest you check out their records to see if now is the time for you to hop on the Swedish train or to wait until more records are digitized.

Check out their site: http://www.arkivdigital.net/

As for me, I'll be staying up late tonight to try and put some meat on my bones of the past.