One of the common problems MacGenealogists shared with me in my recent “One Problem Survey” is the fear of your genealogical materials being lost or forgotten after you pass on or can’t manage it yourself any more. This concern coincides with a recent story.
I know a genealogist that passed away on January 1st, 2007. His name was Bob. I know Bob put a lot of effort into his research and that he took trips to do more research and walk in his ancestor’s footsteps. I wondered what happened to his research, so I asked.
It turns out Bob’s PC and three-ring-binders have yet to be picked up by his son!I don’t mean this as a slight or to suggest that it should be any other way than it is. It’s just an observation, but one I think Bob would have thought important: his son is apparently not motivated to carry on his genealogy research nor even preserve it for the future. Might this be the fate of your research too?
It very likely would have been the fate of mine. When I read your concerns and thought about the fate of Bob’s research the solution was immediately apparent to me and I knew it was a nearly universal problem so I was compelled to develop a method to solve it and give it away to all genealogists.
I put together a draft of the program. It’s called, Establishing a Genealogical Materials Steward. The six simple methods in this program virtually guarantee that your genealogical research will be available to and remembered by succeeding generations. Here are the steps:
1. Prepare For Stewardship
2. Create a Prioritized List of Stewardship Candidates
3. Ask Each Stewardship Candidate (in Priority Order) Until One Accepts
4. Provide the Stewardship Materials
5. Review the Stewardship Materials with Them
6. Schedule Ongoing Stewardship Material Refreshes
Simple, right? Simple, but not easy. Judging by the state of the genealogy “research” published on the Internet, these simple steps are also secrets until now. Naturally there are specific techniques that make up each step, but these sub-steps are simple too. Anyone can do this!
As I said, I’m going to make this program available to anyone who wants it at no cost. First I need to polish any rough edges and make sure it is complete. To do this I need some more people to volunteer to go through the process and give me feedback. This first pass through the program will be limited to a small number of people so that I can keep it manageable. The instructions will be emailed to you each week, one step at a time. This will give you time to review the material, ask any questions, take action, and give feedback.
[Update: The program is not available]
Ben, This is a FABULOUS idea for preserving genealogy records! I’ll be anxious to hear more as the sampling is done by others per your instructions. Great work!
Coralie Cederna Johnson
Ben, I have shared my entire trees by gedcom with 7 relatives, and it is available to any others that want it..
I also have it on three computers and in three different programs as well as back ups.
The unsolved mysteries are still with me in many paper files (and some unfiled!) This because we are never finished.
I have also put names on most of my photos by means of the “faces” aspect of Iphoto.
If I should do more, sign me on and will try my best to follow your system.
Dell Egilson
Hi, Ben!
How would your program differ from Ancestry.com or MacFamilyTree.com?
Bob
Ben – I like the idea, and I’d take it a little further to suggest mulitple stewards, one for each family line. I would also suggest that some of the stewards might not be family members but local genealogical societies or special interest archives. I’ll volunteer to be a guinea pig.
Janet
Hi, Bob.
I’m afraid I haven’t been clear. By program I mean a series of instructional texts delivered weekly by email. I’m not creating a software program for this function. Is that what I had you thinking?
—Ben
Hi, Janet.
Multiple stewards, especially by lineage, is an excellent idea. I’ll add that thought starter to my section on considerations for selecting stewards. Thanks!
—Ben
It is a common problem. I would like to see your suggestons in solving it.
Thank you again. I have sorted through boxes upon boxes of books and genealogical materials of deceased members collections. Members of their families weren’t interested. Hopefully you will come up with a way to preserve a lot of research.
After receiving only one Family Group Sheet back, after attending a family reunion on June 13th, I am painfully aware that there is not the interest among family members, in genealogy, that I have. I didn’t get any Family Group Sheets back from a reunion of another line, about three years ago.
Although they often indicate an interest in “the finished product,” I’m afraid that there is not the interest to preserve or continue any research after I’m gone.
Thank you for your work and help in preserving our research.
Hopefully, your
Just as an FYI. You can also contribute your information to the LDS Church. They store the information in their granite vault in the Rocky Mountains and it is available for free for use by your posterity if any of them get the genealogy bug in later generations. It can also be available digitally to others working on similar lines.
By sharing the information with them you eliminate the risk that a “for profit” company such as Ancestry.com goes out of business or, God forbid, starts to charge others to view your information.