On Sun, 23 Jun 2002 21:33:56 -0700 "Richard" <solutions@solanobiz.net> in the article "Re: [MFLR] New England Vital Records in the 17th Century - citation" writes: > The citation to the article mentioned by Dale (i.e. "New England > Vital > Records in the Seventeenth Century" by the late Ruth Wilder Sherman) > is: > > National Genealogical Society Quarterly (i.e. "NGSQ"), Volume 73, > No. 4 > (December 1985), pp. 277-289. > > Highly recommended reading! Richard - Thank you - I'll add that to my NGSQ index. As folks on the list have probably gathered I have in my files photocopies of many articles from genealogical periodicals, family genealogies and other works. I'm sure that many of you have drawers (or boxes or piles) of photocopies. I have a couple of filing cabinets full of the stuff. I'd like to share a couple of techniques that I use to let me quickly find any given photocopy. Perhaps others on the list would like to share information about their filing systems. The first technique is my filing system. When I started out I filed >everything< by surname. Beyond a certain point that got cumbersome, and, besides, some items such as the Sherman vital records article mentioned above don't belong under a surname. I switched to a four-part filing system. Part 1 holds photocopies of vital records pages, ordered by town. Each town has a seperate folder for births, marriages and deaths. I've been a registered user of Brother's Keeper since, I think, version 3-point-something. I write the BK number for each person in pencil in the margin of each photocopy next to every VR entry in my database for that person. I also pencil in BK numbers in other types of photocopies and in books that I own. Some of you may consider that defacing books and horrible, but I paid for the books and can do whatever I want with them. It is very useful to open up a book or pull out an article and be able to see immediately which people in it are in the database (and be able to find them in that database without a search). Part 2 is still organized by surname. It contains photocopies from books and magazines that pertain to specific families. I don't have a folder for every surname in the database, just those for whom I have more than a few pages to file. Other copies are filed with the family to which they most closely relate - I'll tell you how I find those below. Part 3 is also organized by surname, but contains birth, marriage and death certificates, as well as copies of probate files and deeds. Because these are more expensive and more difficult to obtain than photocopied pages from books and magazines I like to keep them safely away from the much-handled surname files. Most of the items in part 3 are fully transcribed on the computer and linked to individuals from within BK. That way I don't have to handle the originals very often - I can refer to the computer transcriptions. I also transcribe and link obituaries and other newspaper articles as well as items such as copies of cemetery lot records from cemetery offices. Part 4 holds items that don't belong anywhere else, such as the Ruth Wilder Sherman article mentioned above, passenger lists, cemetery records, census pages and anything else that pertains to multiple surnames. The second technique lets me find specific items in the files, especially magazine articles. I have a number of index files on the computer, one each for major journals such as NEHGR, MD, MQ, TAG, and NGSQ, as well as a catch-all. In each file are full source citations for articles from that publication sorted by publication date. An entry is flagged to show if it is cited in my database. Each entry also contains an item to show that I have a photocopy or an electronic copy (scan). When a copy is filed with a family other than that of the titles's surname the file folder is indicated. All articles used as database sources (and many that aren't) are in these indices which live in a dedicated folder on the hard drive. If I want, say, an article on the ancesrtry of Wright Bartlett, I need only remember that "Wright Bartlett" is in the title. In Windows Explorer I can use Tools / Find / Files or Folders / Advanced to search the index files in that folder for one containing "Wright Bartlett." The result of that search is the index file NEHGS.txt. I can open that file in an editor and search within that file for "Wright Bartlett." The search finds the article "Parentage of Wright Bartlett of Bridgewater" and the entry shows that I have cited it in the database and have a photocopy in the Packard surname file (Wright married Bethia Packard). Another benefit to the index files is that when I'm reading a magazine or book and see, say, "MD v. 15, p. 254" I can look in the index file for MD and see that it is a reference to the article "Samuel Packard's Will" and that I have a photocopy. Thanks to Richard's citation above the Sherman article on vital records is now in the index file for NGSQ. I instituted the filing system about 10 years ago and the magazine indices about 5 years ago. They have served me well. Although this system may not appeal to you I urge everyone who is not well organized to institute some kind of a filing system. It can save a lot of time and eliminate duplicated effort (and duplicate photocopies). BTW, a complete copy of the database, as well as all linked transcriptions and scanned photographs, all articles that I have electronic copies of, and the magazine index files, are duplicated on my laptop. I use LapLink to keep the laptop and desktop computers synchronized. That way I can enter information into BK or an index file on the laptop at a library and, when I get home, use LapLink to bring the desktop database and other files up to date. That also lets me have up-to-date files on the laptop in case I find myself downtown with some unexpexted free time and decide to visit the genealogy room at the city library. I also keep my Juno email files (and many other files for work) synchronized on both machines this way. Before I leave the house today I'll update the laptop and do the same when I return home at night. This proved most useful a few months ago when my desktop motherboard died. I was able to keep working on genealogy with the laptop until I got a new motherboard. Dale H. Cook, Chief Engineer, WWWR Roanoke VA, WCQV Moneta VA, WKBA WZZI Vinton VA, WKPA WLNI WLVA WZZU Lynchburg VA