Hi all, I need a bumper sticker that says, "I survived a computer crash!". Actually I didnt survive it too much at all, a lot was lost that I will have to work at putting together again. I started my genealogy research just a little over a year ago, and in that time have aquired quite a bit of information on my ancestors. I have often wondered what other people do to preserve the information that they get. Because of my computer crashing this week it has this question at the top of my priorities. So I am writing to all of the lists that I am a part of to get as many of your opinions as possible. My ultimate goal is to take all the long hours of work that I do in this and preserve it so that my children, grandchildren, greatgrandchildren...bottom line is: I want someone to know who I am 100, 200 years from now when I am long gone! As far as I know there has been no one in my past family who has been interested in genealogy. Therefore you always have to look at the possiblility that you cant rely on your children to carry on where you left off, it just might not ever be somthing that they find an intrest in, even when they are older. So maybe it wont be for several generations until someone "really" would value all the work I am doing. How can I preserve all of this work? If I put it in a box it would be a BIG box and therefore a nusance to those who have no intrest. If I write a book would it cost too much to print it? Would it be possible to self print a book that would last? I could make a "CD" but no one will probally even know what that is in a few generations. Do you see my delima? I have so many things like: Census information, deeds,wills,marriage certificates,death certificates, birth certificates, I even have many many photos some of them date back to the 1800's of my family. I am only wanting to do this for my descendants. I have no intrest in making any money from this. And it is VERY important to me that I dont just say whom was related to whom, but instead I want to be able to show them with my documentation. I have a scanner, a CD burner, a printer. There has got to be a way of not just telling the story but to "show" the story. And then putting it all in some fashion that will last. Does that make sense? I guess Im leaning more toward the book idea because when we go into our local library we see so many old books that are older than we are. Its just so darned expensive to pay someone else to do it for me. If I make my own pages from my printer, will those pages last or is the ink we use or paper we use short lived? How on earth can a person bind thier own books? I look forward to hearing from you all on what you are doing to preserve yours. Sherry