October Organization Checklist DearREADERS, Well, here we are in our 10th month of our new lives as organized genealogists! (No giggling now!) Harold has a really great idea, so I'll get right to the list! Week One: Before the weather gets too bad, take great-grandma's old rocker outside and take a picture of it! The same goes for quilts, baby cradles, pickle crocks, canning jars and other artifacts. Photo-documentation is a valuable tool for family historians. I remember visiting the Conrad Weiser Homestead in Womelsdorf, Pennsylvania. How I thrilled to see the walking stick and silver spoon actually used by my ancestor in the 1720's! I was also very touched to see the effort the restoration committee took to use period stoneware and other appointments to decorate his home. Without careful attention to these matters, visiting a restored home would not put is in the other century. More than just years separate us. Customs, life style and technology change throughout the decades and centuries. So, use those cameras to capture the images of the past. Photos make delightful and informative additions to our family history books! Week Two: Scan the photos for easy insertion as graphics in your family newsletter, or upcoming book. (You ARE planning to publish SOMEDAY!!) You can send the film of your artifacts to Seattle FilmWorks, or scan them in yourself, if you have the equipment. Thanks to my friend Barb, I have been learning about MSPicture Publisher which is a software program for scanning and editing photos. I also use PaintShop Pro (32bit) available for download in AOL's <A H REF="aol://4344:431.page_pgr.1369532.516864034">Graphic Arts Forum</A> . Week Three: By now, the original documents you sent for last month are beginning to arrive. Remember to put them in top-loading sheet protectors, and file them this week with the appropriate family group sheets in your notebooks or files for each family! Week Four: Plan an old-fashioned harvest party for family members, instead of the usual Halloween trick-or-treating! (That's getting too dangerous now!) How about a nostalgic hayride, and bonfire with marshmellows? Even a good old-fashioned square dance or simple songs by the campfire with a budding guitarist to accompany! Round out the activities with a few simple games like bobbing for apples, ring toss (on old fashioned coke bottles), and a cake walk! In the early part of the 20th century before radio and TV, people entertained eachother by singing and playing together, even as adults!