Do You Know Where Your Important Family Documents Are?

As an Oral Historian I am interested in the preservation of peoples’ stories.

I’ve now lost count of the number of times people have come up to me after I’ve given a talk on preserving family stories or after they have seen a family story book I have produced and said to me “I wish we had done that for Mum, Dad, Grandpa etc”. They never really thought about the preservation of their family stories until their loved one had passed on and were sorting through the family estate. It was too late, that particular story had been lost in all its rich detail.

Preserving stories, family history, historic photos and documents is important to me both professionally and personally so when I hear of a new service that helps preserve important family records my interest is captured. When I first met Guy Thornycroft and heard about “NowSorted” I instantly saw how valuable and how relevant this service is to preserving what is really important to families and I invited Guy into the studio for this podcast so he can tell you about it.

List to the podcast about how to safeguard your family documents.

“NowSorted” helps members of a family to bring together and document all of the important documentary records and papers that make up a family estate. It helps make sure the right information is in the right hands, at the right time. Important personal papers; wills, share certificates, insurance policies, passports, family letters, the core documents of life that are so necessary for an individual or family during their life especially when working with a family estate.

I think once you listen to the interview I have done with Guy you too will see the value of organising your family estate matters with “NowSorted”. So I really recommend taking the 15 minutes or so to listen to today’s podcast because I believe it will have valuable information for you and may just help you and your loved ones save a lot of worry at a crucial time in your family’s life.

Guy Thornycroft is a “NowSorted” facilitator based on the Central Coast of NSW Australia.
You can contact Guy to find out more about how the service can help you and your family:
Phone: 02 4322 7686
Web: NowSorted family estate organising

In what way have the changes to the way we live our life in the 21st century impacted on how we learn our family stories and preserve our life story?

Talking this week with a large group of retirees the subject of sharing family stories in an informal setting arose. As the conversation continued it drifted towards subjects concerning the time we share together with extended family and how those opportunities to create shared time for family story telling has changed.

Some participants in my conversation talked about sharing homes with two or even three different family groups from their extended families.  Yet others recounted years of living in the same street or within a 10 minute walk of their extended family.  In other words, in times past there were few “empty nests” and when a family member married they often continued to live in the family home or else set up their own family home not too far away from their roots, remaining in close contact more often than not.   Over time, with greater household wealth, better transport options and the internationalising of work opportunities, families began to spread out over cities, countries and then throughout the world.   Now I can logon to my Lifetime Memories and Stories facebook page and see siblings, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends and their families spreadout in every state in the country and throughout the world in almost every continent.
What do these profound changes in the way we live our lives mean to family story keeping?

They way we are physically dispersed around the world and how we live today means that few of us will ever again spend as much time with in the same physical space with our extended families as those of earlier generations once did.

Grandchildren won’t spend as much time with grandparents, nieces and nephews won’t spend time with their uncles and aunts and, because by and in large it was the informal time that we spent living together or gathering for shared holidays, frequent family gatherings, perhaps today in the 21st century we are more distant from our families than ever before.  We simply do not have the time to get to know each other on a deeper level as families once did.

When you know someone well and share experiences it allows for a safer and more comfortable space where personal story telling on an even deeper level can occur.  What I mean is that the difference between a grandparent and grandchild spending time together when they are very familiar with each other and when they see each other once or twice a year is immense.

The meeting that occurs in a once or twice a year physical relationship does not necessarily reduce the love expressed or lessen the joy experienced when we do meet but it does mean that the time spent together is more of a “catchup” or a “treating” time together and our interactions tend to be concentrated on that level.   When you know someone well and are comfortable just “being”, the opportunities to explore beyond the surface are more.  This is what has the greatest impact on the traditional family story telling opportunities.   Opportunities like summer holidays spent together when conversations naturally surface references to times past and we feel comfortable asking about “old aunt so and so” or what did you do when you were working at… or living at…

I am not suggesting that we can ever recreate the style of living we once had in simpler times past.  I am, however, suggesting that we must be conscious to grab each opportunity that presents itself to get to know our greater family and family stories with both hands.   And also perhaps take advantages of the technology that is now available to help supplement the face to face connections we no longer have.

Facebook is one example that can help you to stay in touch and build and maintain relationships with family and friends over distance. It cannot replace shared times in a physical space but at least it has the facility for us to share and reach out.  Personally I have begun to use it to reach out to my extended family that is located throughout the world.  I can see by the interactions I am having across time zones and generations that by doing so I have begun engaging and communicating with cousins that I have been able to share very little time with in a physical sense.  We have begun to share little bits of our lives and tentatively comment on each other’s activities.  From that we have started to share little bits of our family stories at a deeper level and I freely admit I am encouraging it wherever I can for I know that we each hold previous pieces of our family’s collective knowledge.

Recently I was introduced to another great website specifically created for the preservation of life stories.

“Story of My Life“  is an online place where the tools exist to preserve your life story in words, audio, video and images and preserve that for all time.  There are other sites like it but in my exploration thus far I think “Story of My Life” is a pretty good one.  You can keep your story private, share it with select people or the world and through the  “The Story of My Life Foundation” they have created the means whereby they assure users that this data is accessible online forever.  The foundation exists to do nothing else but to store and safeguard life stories, forever.  And I think that is a pretty neat thing!  In a future post I will blog more specifically about how I am going to use it and what I think of the technical aspects but I can see the unending possibilities of sharing my family story.

Together with my extended family I can see us building a really great repository for our future generations and perhaps rebuilding a family community in new ways for the 21st century at a “grass roots” level.  Perhaps I can use facebook and “Story of My Life” to inspire new generations of the family to get together in the real world and build on something we have only just begun online and if by posting this I have started you thinking about the possibilities for your own family then I would be very happy.

There is no doubt that if we want to preserve our family stories into the future we need to adapt and change.  I would be interested in knowing how you are currently using or plan to use the new technology available to you to build and maintain your own connections across your extended family.

Archives - Key To Your Personal Memoirs

Greetings from the Northeastern United States where in January 2010 it is now – 9 °C. It is an honor to write for my Australian friends. In fact, the archives management graduate school basic text from which I studied 18 years-ago was written by Australian archivists, so I feel in a way that I am coming full circle. I’d like to thank Greg for the opportunity to introduce myself to a new audience. He has asked me to write about how to decide which personal papers to keep. So I will attempt to give you some helpful hints for getting started.

Within every household is a treasure trove of information that tells the stories of individuals and families. Everything we have accumulated over the course of our lives is a symbol for who we are. Our personal papers are the most telling of our items, but can cause us the most confusion. We are all attached to our “stuff,” but few of us see beyond a sentimental care. Yearbooks thrown in cardboard boxes, clippings kept in deteriorating folders, and old utility bills from our first apartment litter filing cabinets and closet floors. How do we determine what we should save?

1. The most important step is to try to think of your things as a collection that tells the story of your life. What items form the core of your story? Which fill in the details and which are not very important to the story at all?
2. Try to detach yourself from your items. You want to try to get over your sentimentality. (i.e. “I NEED THAT! My second grade teacher gave me that popsicle when I won the spelling bee and the popsicle stick reminds me of that day!”) Try to look at your items as a researcher would. What materials tell your personal story and what things really are not important to it at all. This is not to say that sentimentality should never play a part in decisions, but an awareness of personal biases will help you be more logical. In the archives world, “appraisal” means determining what to keep. Once you find a way to detach yourself, you can perform appraisal.
3. Aim to keep things that add to your story by telling it in chunks. Archivists prefer groupings of papers to individual items. A folder of back and forth correspondence between friends tells us much more than one letter.
4. Set up a plan to get rid of administrative items such as bills when they are no longer needed. In the U.S., we must retain such materials for seven years for tax purposes. After that, we should get rid of them. Talk to your accountant and lawyer about how long you need to keep these evidential records and then clear them from your clutter when the time comes.
5. Review the condition of materials and remove what isn’t salvageable.
6. Keep your vital records and keep them in a safe place. Birth certificates, mortgage papers, and other such records should be kept in a fire proof box with copies placed off-site.
7. Remove unlabeled or unidentifiable materials. There is little use in keeping photos of people you and your family members do not recognize.
8. Remove duplicates of materials.
9. As you go through your items, you may begin to notice patterns in your collecting. For example, you may have a lot of your college papers, but little from earlier years. Make an effort to locate missing materials to fill out your story. Retrieve items from your mother’s attic or talk to family members about their memories of your childhood.

When you think of your materials as the key to your biography, deciding what to keep becomes a little easier.

I wish you well in your archiving endeavors.

Melissa Mannon, MSLS
“Visit Archives Info for more information on – Securing Our Cultural Heritage”
“Visit Archives Info Blogspot to read Melissa Mannon’s Blog ”

Melissa Mannon

Melissa Mannon is owner of ArchivesInfo and is a professional archivist with almost 20 years experience helping individuals, cultural heritage institutions, and businesses with the management of their records and personal papers. She is the author of numerous articles and her first book about assembling archives is due out with AltaMira Press, a division of Rowman and Littlefield, in mid 2010.

Capture Family Memories at Family Parties

Interviewing family members is a great way to gather your family memories and preserve family history for future generations. Take advantage of your next family gathering to talk with your key story keepers.

With a little preparation ahead of time everyone’s family memories can be tapped into and you will be able to enjoy reminiscing together. Let your family know in advance what you plan. Ask them to search out the old photos in their keeping and have them fill in the blanks as to the time and the place and the who, what, where of the photo. Ask them to complete as much information as they can in advance and bring the pictures with them to your next family event.

Contact your family by email, letter or telephone and encourage them to become involved by enlisting their help. Everyone likes to feel that they are important so encourage that feeling by asking for their help in capturing your family memories for the family history and telling them that their memories are important to you and your family history. Some will be very enthused while others perhaps lukewarm but if you give them enough notice and perhaps an idea of the areas you are focused on you will find that even those who showed lukewarm interest will warm to the idea and produce some unexpected gems when the time comes for sharing everybody’s finds. Emphasise you’re collecting all sorts of stories – happy, sad, silly, landmarks and incidental times.

Often, within large extended families parts of the same story may be held by different members. The story will have been passed down by a number of people through the different branches of the family to others members and even if those people were present at the event they will have different memories of it and often a personal “investment” in their version of the event. You’ll be amazed at how two or three people with the same story can fill in the blanks and add important details the others have completely overlooked.

It’s a great opportunity when you have everyone relaxing together to talk with them as a group and also separately. Remember to allocate time with the key story keepers you identify in your family. Some of the quieter members of your family may have some very interesting stories to tell but may be a little shy telling them in front of the others so don’t let the natural exuberance of the more outgoing let you overlook the quieter ones.

Prepare your starter questions ahead of time. Perhaps you will have starting points already identified and have formulated questions for your family memories already, but as you contact your family in advance of your family event other questions will certainly suggest themselves. You may like to take a look at our free e-guide on  How to Write an Autobiography or Personal Memoir as there are some very useful tips that you may apply to preparing family memories for writing your family story.

The easiest and most effective way to gather the information you require is to record it in some way, either by audio recording or on video. Make sure that you get a tape recorder with a good microphone or a video that preferably has an external microphone or the sound will niot be very good. Take the time to practise with whatever equipment you choose before the event. Nothing is worse than everybody taking and telling great stories whilst you are fumbling with unfamiliar equipment! You will need lots of recording capacity and access to a power supply or plenty of batteries.

At family gatherings like this it would be good to schedule, even if informally, a time when you will be concentrating on the family stories and let everyone know as far in advance when this will be. Usually a good opportunity is after a shared meal together when it is a natural, relaxed time for family to sit around and talk. Use the photos that have been brought along as a starting point and don’t be afraid to go with the flow as one story will lead to another. Remember that someone (the organiser) will need to listen to the tapes or watch all of the video and edit the recordings into a family history presentation that everyone can enjoy, so gently steer the discussion back on track if it is in danger of heading off down a side path. This is your family story and while “Fred the next door neighbour” may have been a great fisherman details about “Fred” and where he touches your family story may be relevant but this is not Fred’s story, it’s your family story – it’s how Fred interacted with your family. Keep the session on track or you will be soon out of time and disappointed with the results.

Arrange to scan the photos family members have brought. If possible do it there and then (or appoint someone to do this for you) so you can give the originals back to them immediately. If not arrange to do it as quickly as possible and return all materials to the story keepers. Be absolutely certain you know who owns which photos!

It is also important to edit the recordings and if working with audio to transcribe the audio into text so that you can provide copies of the video or of the written stories for everyone. Make a master copy of the edited recordings and give your family a copy of their very special family memories event as soon as possible. This will please everybody and encourage more cooperation if you plan to hold another family memoires session in the future.

By taking the advantage of a time when your family gathers and with a little effort you and your family can give a gift to each other and your future generations a very special family memories gift that will keep on giving joy for generations to come.

But I am more worried about what is happening with todays pictures.

Of the hundreds of throusands of digital images that are taken each day, images that are capturing important moments in your family history; marriages, births, christenings, family celebrations or just the life and times you and your family live in, how many are being printed out? How many of your family’s images are being printed out on quality photographic paper with stable inks?

Digital camera unit sales have grown from 4.5 million to 20.5 million during 2000-2005, and consumers are capturing more images than ever before, however, only 13% of these images ever get printed. That is not very many considering how many are taken. Will they be there in 10, 20, 50, 100 or a 150+ years for your descendents to see what you and your life and times were like?

CD Disc Rot Family History Gone

11% of Americans have more than 100,000 digital images they took personally, and 27% have between 1,001 and 5,000 digital images. This means that Americans have more than 500 billion images somewhere.  But where is that somewhere?  The vast majority of those images are on hard drives, flash drives, memory sticks and CD-R disks, not printed out.  The vast majority of those images aren’t being backed up.  The vast majority of those images will “ROT AWAY” or be lost to a hard drive crash.

Think it won’t happen to you.  Rubbish, most of us will delete by accident, expereince a hard drive failure or even if we have “backed up” to a CD-R those CDs will rot quietly away without being noticed and the family history of your times will be gone.  Yes GONE!

“Photographs stored as JPEG, TIFF and other digital file formats on the mostly commodity grade CD-R discs commonly supplied by photo labs and other retail outlets, are also susceptible to disc rot due to the use of various cheaper silver alloys in the CD-R reflective layer.

These silver alloys generally provide some improvement in quality and longevity when compared with aluminium, but corrosion can still occur as oxidisation of the weakened silver alloy matrix commences -the only pure metal to be completely unaffected by air, moisture and most corrosive reagents is 24 karat gold” ProDisc Australia

This is why Lifetime Memories and Stories have chosen PRODISC Systems Australia as their choice for archival recordable media as no other brand of recordable media has successfully survived the such high standards of archival performance scrutiny we demand to preserve the family stories and oral histories we produce for our clients.

Recently ProDisk Australia have produced a very useful article on preserving your music, images and family history on CD Rom  disks.  We have made available the full Disk Rot article produced by PRODISC Systems Australia in full  for you to download and read.  Although it contains a great deal of technical information it will give you a good overview of the basics that you won’t need much technical knowledge to understand.

You owe it to yourself, your family history and your descendents to at least understand the basics of Disk Rot and how you can take steps to rpevent your family’s digital images and video on DVDs from dissapearing.

Click here to download the full article on how to preserve your family history on CD.