Bette That is good advice. Last time I went on a research trip I printed out a book from my genealogical program, and it had all I had found on my family in the area we were going to down to me and how to get in touch with me. That way I had all the names and dates handy while I was researching, and when we left the library for the last time I donated the book to the library there. So that part of my research is in the library in Illinois. I have also donated to the Wadena library in Minnesota. So I hope my research will always be available. Charles -----Original Message----- From: Bette Butcher Topp <toppline@comcast.net> To: WA-EWGS-L@rootsweb.com <WA-EWGS-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Sunday, July 11, 2004 2:15 PM Subject: [EWGS] Thought this was interesting! >The Case for Documenting Yourself: by Jeff Scism - was in Rootsweb >Review 1999 [I have taken the liberty of shortening the article] > > "The search for personal history and its relationship to our >personal lives makes history come alive. The lesson of genealogy isn't >simply a knowledge of what happened in the past, but also what we know >about our present. In the future, the history documented and saved for >future reference will be the known events of our contemporary past. Our >views from the end of the 20th century will be a classical perspective >at the end of the 21st century. > To put this concept in perspective, think about your family research >and the documentation you find about your 19th century ancestors. How >does that information impact the data you are saving about the lives of >the members of your current family? To research the past and store that >information for easy future retrieval will be the legacy of today's >genealogist/hstorian. But a greater legacy will be the way we store >information about ourselves. Making the research of our family's past a >priority now but failing to document our own involvement in current >history is to shortchange the future. > How many of us have an ancestor's actual autobiography written in >his or her own hand? How many of us can say we "know" these ancestors? >Right now you are a family historian studying the lives of all who came >before you. Are you documenting your own life in a "hard" form for the >genealogists of the future, so that in the year 2100 your >great-great-grandchildren will be able to say they "know" you? > Documenting your life the way you would want your ancestors to be >documented is the first step to being the person your descendants will >know from the past, and a journal of your thoughts on current events >will be a marker and a reference valuable to many, not just your >descendants. > What I would like to add after retrospect is that fewer people are >writing ON paper. And as we all know, the electronic documents we work >with everyday can vanish in an instant, and be forever lost. > BACK UP your data, all of it, onto a CD (or multiple copies) and >store it away from your computer, your home and in a safe place when it >will still be known to be if something tragic happens and by all means, >mention it in your will. > Remember your working notes tell an important story, your FINISHED >sections should be clearly findable and PRINTED OUT! >So make sure that the work survives to be passed on to the next >generation, who hopefully will continue it." >~~~~~ >I know that we all intend to write our own story and save it for the >next couple generations but we need to be serious about it. Maybe you >can start being serious during this summer. > >Bette >-- > > The new email address is now: toppline@comcast.net************ > >*****Hope you will visit my homepage: >http://home.comcast.net/~toppline/homepage.htm > > You can find my ahnentafel chart at >http://home.comcast.net/~toppline/antafl.htm > > > > >==== WA-EWGS Mailing List ==== >October 12 US Military Research >Revolutionary War Doris Woodward >