I was reading Michael Hait's blog last night, which led me to an archived discussion here on the Transitional Genealogists list which discussed each of the BCG standards one by one (the the blog and discussions are good reading by the way). In the discussion of the first standard about how to handle research materials, a couple of people mentioned trying to handle their own collections better. This led me, this morning, to start going through my own collection to at least sort it. I found that I mostly kept my reference books and magazines separated from my photos and documents, but I didn't have the published material in any sort of order. I've seen a lot of discussions about organizing documents and photographs. I'm curious how other members organize their books and periodicals? After sorting, I found that I had reference books (ProGen, Evidence!, etc.), published genealogies, town histories, an autobiography written by my great-aunt, my grand-father's high-school year books, and several periodicals (American Ancestors, NGS Quarterly, etc.), as well as a series of yearly Vermont almanacs from the 1800's. How do you all keep your published materials organized? -Elroy

For my own genealogical materials (those pertaining to my family), I use binders organized by individual or by married couple. I don't have my magazines and journals really organized yet, but as our daughter is about to close on a house, I will have an office and be able to organize my stuff more -- I hope! My books: The Dewey Decimal System! (I'm a former librarian). Karen Packard Rhodes currently residing in Pinellas Park, Pinellas County, Florida On 11/10/2012 1:50 PM, Elroy Davis wrote: > I was reading Michael Hait's blog last night, which led me to an archived > discussion here on the Transitional Genealogists list which discussed each > of the BCG standards one by one (the the blog and discussions are good > reading by the way). > > In the discussion of the first standard about how to handle research > materials, a couple of people mentioned trying to handle their own > collections better. > > This led me, this morning, to start going through my own collection to at > least sort it. I found that I mostly kept my reference books and magazines > separated from my photos and documents, but I didn't have the published > material in any sort of order. > > I've seen a lot of discussions about organizing documents and photographs. > I'm curious how other members organize their books and periodicals? After > sorting, I found that I had reference books (ProGen, Evidence!, etc.), > published genealogies, town histories, an autobiography written by my > great-aunt, my grand-father's high-school year books, and several > periodicals (American Ancestors, NGS Quarterly, etc.), as well as a series > of yearly Vermont almanacs from the 1800's. > > How do you all keep your published materials organized? > > -Elroy >

The part of my collection that has actually made it to a bookcase isn't large, so I'm not really in need of any type of "organization," yet. I simply have them in an order that means the one on the end won't fall over! Dave