First, let me apologize for not posting a Monday Musings column last week. I’m also late with this weeks post! I’ll try to do better in the future, it just seems that there is so much going on right now. Must be summertime or something! 
So, what’s on my mind now? Well, there’s a lot on my mind but I believe the main thing I am wondering about when it comes to genealogy is what is going to happen with everything I have researched and found in the last 10 years? Will it just fall into the wrong hands and become trash or will it be picked up by someone and carried on?
I’ve thought about this before but with my recent misfortunes with my website and with the realization that I had been so lax when it came to backing up my files, I had to rethink it! What if, instead of losing everything from my website, I had just had a massive heart-attack and my time was over? I know, I don’t want to think about that stuff but, what if? Have I documented everything so that others can pick up where I left off? Would everyone look at my pile of paperwork and jumbled up mess of files on my hard drive and just trash it?
I know that my oldest daughter has said she would love to carry on my research but she hasn’t had any interest lately either. So, who would pick it up, if anyone?
I believe I should take the time to treat my genealogy research as I would a child. I would want someone to raise that child in the event something happened to me. I’d also want to make sure there was proper provisions so that the child would get the raising it should. I would pick someone I trusted, make a bank account and save money so that the child wouldn’t want for anything, and I’d probably take the time to make sure everything was legal!
So, how would I do this with my research? First off, I’d have to get everything in order. No one would want to inherit what I have now with the way it is all boxed up and not sorted in any way! I need to take the time to take the paperwork out of the boxes, put it back into folders or binders and then make sure it is organized in a logical way! I also need to take the time to sort out the scanned papers on my hard drive and the photos also. I need to make backups on DVD so that I can send some off to my family members and let them have them to either help now or at least have a good backup in many different places. I also need to take the time to start questioning some of my siblings, children, and other relatives to see if they would be interested in inheriting my research. Maybe have more than one person to pass it to so that it would have a better chance of surviving!
So today, which is actually now July 27, 2010, I pledge that I will take the time to make a plan, devise a method of carrying out that plan and then implementing that plan. Will this happen overnight? I doubt it! If I take the time to make the first step, then perhaps the journey will not be quite as hard as I thought.
Anyone have any ideas or suggestions to pass my way?
Ken