Thursday, March 18, 2010

Preservation

How do you preserve your family information?

Is it all on paper in a book?
Is it all in your grandma's head?
Is it in a safety deposit box?
Is it on an external hard drive?
Is it on a flash drive?
Is it in a fire proof safe?
Is it stored online?

There are so many places we have available to us to store our information these days. Obviously, some places are more secure than others. I personally have several different locations and unfortunately not everything in one location. Most everything is on my external hard drive. My husband knows that if there is a fire and I am safe, grab the external, if I haven't done it already. This post is for me as much as everyone else, it is good to have a back up. It is good to have your information in more than one place. You never know when tragedy may strike.
I have been told that my grandfather's military records were in part of of the national archives that were burned years ago. We now have no record of much of what he did.
I have been thinking a lot about the people throughout the world who don't have the ability to store documents as I do. It is my responsibility to save what I have, in a way that should something happen to me, others will be able to find what I have done.
As you think about the possibility of losing not only your hard work on genealogy but everything you own, think of the people of Chile and that your donation can help them build theirs homes and lives. I have a friend sending care packages directly to those in need.
Sorry, tangent, an important one but a tangent nonetheless.
Find ways to store your hard found family information in a way that your descendants won't have to recreate the hours you have spent but will be able to move forward and work on making your family tree branches continue to grow.