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ELECTRONIC GENEALOGY

© Christine Sievers

Last week, I wrote about keeping careful records and documenting all your sources. If you are like me, it won't be long before you have reams of paper and bits of information floating everywhere. There are a number of ways you can keep everything in order. Experimenting with different methods as your data grows can help you eventually settle on the way that best suits you.

There are two basic ways of storing your research - paper and electronic. Most people use a combination of the two, with one or the other being their primary record.

If you plan to store your data electronically, you will need a genealogy program. Two good sites for comparison information on different programs are at Genealogy Software Springboard and Louis Kessler's Genealogical Program Links. If you would like to first try out an inexpensive or free genealogy program, go to Genealogy Software, which provides a list of freeware and shareware genealogy programs.

If you are new to computers and/or genealogy, you may want to start with a simple program. The most important thing to remember with electronic storage is to back up your program. For more information on back up see my article Backing Up Your Genealogical Data

What I like about electronic storage is the way you can manipulate the data - using different ancestor and descendant starting points. It is great for running off copies of family trees for relatives. The third advantage of an electronic genealogy program is the ability to easily transfer information to your web page and send gedcoms.

Another electronic aid for genealogists is a scanner. I'll admit that I have not mastered mine yet. It is still on my list of to-dos. But, scanners provide incredible opportunities for scanning records and photographs into your genealogy program and websites. You can find a good overview of scanners at Cnet.com - Scanners.

However, paper records are still my favorite primary way of keeping track of things. Next week, I will talk about different ways to keep a handle on all those notes and paper records.