Preserving the Family Archive

In our writing group last month, we talked about the process of writing a family history, and step one of that process -- after making the decision to take action --  is to begin gathering, organizing, and preserving a working archive. 

A "working archive' is comprised of the material needed to write your story, and may include a variety of documents, photos, and other memorabilia. Whether you are writing your own personal history, the history of an ancestor, or someone else in your family, it's important to gather all the information you can pertaining to that person, and to have it organized and on hand when it's time to write -- more later on organizing your working archive.

The place to start is within your own home, gathering and organizing your "family" archive -- you might be surprised at home much information you have once you pull it all together. The family archive would include family documents, vital records, photos, and memorabilia, including newspaper clippings, wedding and birth announcement, funeral programs; and, in addition, any materials you may have inherited about your ancestors or other family members. Often this material is scattered in multiple places or piled all together in a box or suitcase and stored away.

Although modern day scrapbooking may have rescued the kids' photos and memorabilia from the pile, the proverbial cardboard box is still a reality for some -- a sort of catch-all for all those things we are going to get to  . . . someday. Not only is the box a catch-all, unorganized by definition, it is also subject to loss, damage, and decay. Our first step would be to gather all of this material, sort it, and take action to preserve it. This need not expensive, archivally safe page protectors, photo pages, and photo boxes available at your local craft store may be a good place to start -- more on later on preservation.

Once you have taken this step, it's easy to see what you have and what you may be missing to begin compiling your story. The next step is to create a TIMELINE for the person or family about whom you are writing.