I had a friend who spent a lifetime researching and writing his family history. He kept a daily journal, entering 1,500 words each day for over 67 years and taking thousands of photographs. My friend privately published six volumes of 400+ pages each, 9"x12" hardbound and had 100 copies printed of each of the six volumes. A few copies were given to the local LDS Family History Centers and to the one in Salt Lake City, as well as to local libraries where he lived and where he grew up, but most of the libraries to which he offered his work declined his offer because of space restrictions. At the point when I became involved my friend had 14 more 3" ring binders full of information and photos which he intended to have published in the same format as the previous six volumes. The estimated cost of printing the remaining volumes of his work was $80,000.00. I suggested that he consider publishing his work on CD which would include the contents of his previous six volumes as well as his unpublished work, and that he print only a few paper volumes of the new work. My friend agreed and asked me to undertake that task.
Much of my friend's work had been recorded on hard drives and floppy disks, but the two old original IBM PCs in which the hard drives were installed no longer ran. I had to install new BIOS chips to get them running. Then we discovered that the programs he had used (word processors and genealogical database software) to record and organize his data would no longer run either, and the backup copies he had made were not readable by current versions of his software. A third, more modern PC also would not run and had to be resurrected. He had two running PCs and both were shakey at best. We bought a new PC, and updated software, and over a period of three years I was able to recover the electronic versions of all what my friend had so laboriously written. The completed CD included the previously printed six volumes as well as much of the later data and was automated to run on any then-current PC under several contemporary browsers and on a variety of screen sizes. All of the text was searchable, and the photos were integrated into the text of many articles, genealogical histories, journal entries and various charts and reports. The photos were also available in an indexed photo gallery. When my friend and his wife passed away a few years later not a single one of his children wanted the CD. The remaining books (a few hundred copies) were boxed up and hauled away to an unknown fate. The one lesson I took from having helped with that project is that it pays to disseminate your data as widely as possible, and in as many formats as possible, while you are living. Make paper copies. Publish online. Make CDs. Give away copies of your files to relatives and other researchers as you work. Don't let the "unfinished" nature of your research keep you from distributing what you already have. Better to publish some of your incomplete, or poorly sourced research than to let it be lost if you die suddenly. Try not to let possessiveness overcome willingness to share. We all like to be credited with what we've discovered, but it's better to disclose information we have rather than to risk it being lost forever because we fear those receiving it won't mention us when they publish. One last thought. No electronic format is permanent. They all deteriorate, and they will all become obsolete eventually. If you choose to use an eletronic format you should also commit to keeping that format up-to-date. Don't stick with an old version of the software you're using simply because you like the old version, or because you're comfortable using it. Keep your hardware and software up to date! If not immediately when it's released, at least within say a year of that release. Stagnation can mean your data will no longer be useable to those who come after you. Even paper copies can burn, or be thrown out, so diversify and distribute! John Zimmerman Mesa, AZ On 10/12/2012 12:36 PM, JLB wrote: > You win the prize for writing the most depressing post I've ever read. > > I don't agree with the paper thing either. First of all, mine is way too > much to print and it's no guarantee anyway. > > Share while you can. If your close relatives are boobs at least it's all > somewhere else and has a fighting chance. > --- > JL Beeken > JLog - simple computer technology for genealogists > http://www.jgen.ws/jlog/ > > On 10/11/2012 2:23 PM, [email protected] wrote: >> Lets be honest and face it. No matter what format our life's work is in >> it becomes questionable as to whether it will survive us, especially if >> what we do is not appreciated in anyway by our survivors. >> >> I personally knew of a situation where a friend and fellow genealogist >> who helped me get started had all his research PAPERS (including >> correspondence spanning several years) PITCHED when his 'loving >> children' thought he was on his death bed. 40 years of meticulous >> gladiolus hybridizing records suffered the same fate. He survived his >> "impending death" scare only to learn when he was well enough to come >> home that his children had rented a dumpster, parked it at the front >> door and got rid of all his "crap". He later told me he didn't have one >> scrap of paper left to show for 40+ years of hybridizing OR genealogy. I >> would have LOVED to have, at least been offered, the chance to pick >> through what he had since we had a common ancestor. >> >> In another situation the widow of the researcher was ready to pitch her >> husband's research when an in law found out about it and salvaged it >> before she did. In neither case was anyone contacted to see if "you want >> any of this 'stuff' ________ (fill in the blank, Dad, Mom, Aunt Alice, >> Grandpa, Grandma etc) accumulated?" >> >> Safe guard as best we can and hope for it to survive us and wind up in >> some one (or some institution) loving hands.......! >> >> gc > > > > Legacy User Group guidelines: > http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp > Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp > Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on > our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). > To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp > > > Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). 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