27. No One Gets Out of This Game Alive

 

If you are an amateur genealogist, you might want to think about what happens to your research work when you die?  You may be lucky enough to have someone in your family who will inherit your work.  But others might not be so fortunate.

 

Recently, I attended a Zoom seminar presented by Thomas MacIntee on the topic of “Future Proofing Your Genealogical Research”.  Thomas is well known and highly regarded genealogy speaker (visit his website www.genealogybargains.com).  

 

Any number of potential disasters can happen:

  • Everything is tossed into the garbage when the house is cleaned out.
  • Old photos (yes, the ones with no names) - recycled with the newspapers.
  • Rare books - tossed.
  • Technology tools – redeployed.
  • Research threads and contacts - lost.
  • Hard drives - erased.
  • Online subscriptions - terminated.

 

So, what to do?  First, we need to craft an inventory, including any family artifacts we have.  This should include the location of any certificates you have (for example, original birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates), family letters, family photos, family videos, military medals, military records, educational records, property information, research records, a list of online subscriptions (and the passwords), your collection of genealogy books, etc.  Try to think of all of the items you have amassed on your genealogical journey. 

 

Anyone who inherits the research will benefit tremendously from this “roadmap”.  Once you have an inventory, those folks who are left with the responsibility of settling your estate will have half a chance of making some good decisions on your genealogical legacy.  

 

Alternatively, you might want to be pro-active in finding homes for your material.  For example, if a local historical society is interested, their first question is going to be “What do you have?”  Of course, your inventory will be the starting point of this discussion.  Or, you might have a niece or cousin who is interesting in some aspect of your work.   Again, the inventory will be a great asset to developing an arrangement. 

 

So, start now to write down all the family history items you have gathered over the years.  You might even be encouraged to spend a bit of time organizing your material a bit better.  And that is always worthwhile, even for your immediate benefit. 

 

Join your local genealogical society for more. 

Start today folks!

 

 

Ron Gilmore

Email:         rvg3@me.com

Website:     https://www.rgenealogy.ca