Scanning, Sorting & Purging

In addition to spending some time this week on my vacation doing some research, I've also used this opportunity to catch up on an ongoing project - the digitization of the piles of genealogy paperwork I've accumulated over the years.

I've been scanning everything and will be sorting and filing in digital folders so I will always have it at my fingertips.  Additionally, having it digital will allow me to share the information with other researchers quickly and easily.

Today, I found myself scanning correspondence going back to 1987 !! Not only did I still have those letters and documents, in looking at them, I apparently hadn't extracted all the information into my database.

Once these newspaper scraps and photocopies of documents have been scanned, I have had to make the determination whether or not to keep or purge the documents.  My guidelines have been - if it is a vital record copy, I keep it; if it is a photocopy from a book I am purging it.  In addition, any printouts from census pages or other records that I know have been digitized at FamilySearch or Ancestry I am purging.

So far I've made it through a few boxes, with several more to go.  The sad thing about having all of this information on paper is that I've found I've duplicated some efforts and likely paid for copies of information I already had.

In the end, this process will not only eliminate some of the piles of paper but will hopefully help me stay organized in my research.