[Part II of McArthur Library’s Family History Month 2015 series.]

An important part of preserving your family treasures is to preserve the CONTEXT of those materials. How many of us have stacks of old photographs that were handed down, yet we have no idea who the people are in the pictures?

Unless there is someone or something in the background that may clue you in, not knowing the who/what/why of the things we keep negates the keeping of them in the first place. This should be reason enough for taking the time to label your images/files/other materials that don’t obviously tell you why they matter or who they are about.

New York Public Library’s Carmen Nigro gives us “Twenty Reasons Why You Should Write Your Family History“

The resurgence in popularity of scrapbooking has had the great effect in that folks are not only labeling their images, they take the time to write a little blurb about them too, preserving the story that they want to tell about themselves and their loved ones. There are many ways today, via the Web, to connect with people to solve the mysteries of your family history. The use of social media allows us to interact with and share with friends and family anywhere in the world, and is a great way to figure out who that guy is in the picture with Great Aunt Edna from the 1978 family reunion. Numerous genealogy sites allow you to view the work of and connect with people whose family tree intersects with your own.

RESEARCH

• GENEALOGY HANDBOOKS + MANUALS @ McArthur Library. Books you can read/check out from the us. Got questions? Contact the Reference Department!
• ANCESTRY FOR LIBRARIES (Accessible via MARVEL, and only within the library. However you can use either one of our computers or your own portable web-enabled device.)
• FAMILYSEARCH
• USGENWEB

PRESERVE + SHARE

• STORYCORPS APP (Record your family stories, and have them preserved at the Library of Congress for posterity:  available for Android or iPhone.)
• ARMCHAIR GENEALOGIST  (Guide) Research and Write Your Family History
• MAINE ADULT EDUCATION  Access local, low-cost courses in topics such as: genealogy, memoir writing, wordprocessing (on computers) and self-publishing.
• “The Secret To Writing a Compelling Family History” (Article)