Organization tends to be quite individual. What works well for one may not work well for all. Don't feel that you have to do it one particular way. Just find a way that works for you and try to be consistent. Many of us started out with series of loose leaf notebooks only to find the notebooks soon became too big and too numerous and we began to "graduate" from them to a file cabinet and perhaps even to more than one file cabinet before too long. If you decide on the file cabinet (s), get the sturdy deep ones, not those light weight $25 ones you can find everywhere. The small ones do not have much usable space and soon you will be heading off to the store for bigger ones. In the office discount stores, you can get a pretty good 4 drawer one for about $100. I like the file cabinet approach because when going on a trip I can simply select the folders I want, put them in one of those small plastic crates and place the plastic crate on the seat of the car. I have devised my own system for filing, similar to some others that others have described. When I am just beginning work on a family, I label a file folder with the surnames of husband and wife and put everything related to those two families in that folder. It is then easy for me to quickly pick up that family folder and take to the library. As I learn more about the families. I gradually split up the families into more folders and generally keep them in alphabetical order by surname. You might want to have one drawer for one branch of the family and another drawer for families related to anther branch. One can make pedigree charts from their genealogy program of various sections of their families and put them in the front of related folders. Someone else suggested doing the same with family groups sheets. Such summary material helps if you forget names of the lines to several related families. There are some materials that I keep separate from the family folders themselves. I tend to keep my vital records and other original source materials together in one or two file folders in a separate place from my family folders. If I want a copy of a vital record in a particular family file, I just make a photocopy and put the copy in the family file. I find that if I have the originals filed all over the place, I can never remember which family I put them with. One may think they have a good memory, but the more information one accumulates, the more disorganized one tends to become and the more difficult it is to find something when you want to look at it again or share it with someone else. Locality and census materials can be kept separate also, particularly if they pertain to many families. There again you can photocopy individual pages that you want duplicated in your family files. There are some commercial systems that have been listed in the past. Dollarhide is one, but I have not used it. If someone wants a copy of an article describing the system, let me know about the first of August and I will locate it and send it. Do not ask me now, as I am on vacation and do not have the file on my notebook computer. I believe there is a computer program by the name of Clooze or something similar that some people use in organizing their genealogy papers. I also collect old family photos. I copy these with a 35 mm camera. I then try to keep copies in albums with a code number on the back relating to the negatives files so I can get duplicates made for people who would like them. In some cases it is easier to scan and send photos via email, but the quality is not as good and the paper and dyes we now have available, will not last as long as the old black and white photos of the past. Computer media may not last as long as the old photos either. It is wise to devise more than one method of saving our precious photographs. Whatever system one devises, try to keep the papers picked up and filed. Those piles of papers tend to quickly get out of control. Do not rely only on your computer organization because hard drives, floppy drives and even cdrom media do fail. I back up my genealogy database to a floppy or zip drive daily and periodically send copies of my research and vital records to family members that are interested in my family research. That way should something happen to me, someone else can preserve my work. For most people making use of a computer genealogy program is an important asset, although we all know in the past people did not have that luxury. I prefer Family Origins which has a variety of powerful features, yet is easy for the beginning researcher to use. Do remember when you add any "facts" to your database to note the source for EACH fact. Inevitably one soon finds conflicting information and it is easier to resolve it, if you can determine where you found it. Where there are conflicts, it is always good to discuss your conflicts and conclusions in your notes because months and perhaps 100s of names later you may not remember how you arrived at your rationale for choosing one date or place over another. Hope this is helpful to someone. Margaret Scheffler