Now that we have made your project a priority, even if it is a simple 30 minutes per week, we will continue to scan pictures, letters, paintings, and memorabilia.  Now as you do that, you can immediately rename them so they are easily found as we move through our project. Someone in your family took the time and effort to take those pictures or save that telegram, now it is up to you to preserve them.

So this week, scan more pictures AND go back and rename some jpegs you have already digitized.

"If you don't recount your family history, it will be lost. Honor your own stories and tell them too. The tales may not seem very important, but they are what binds families and makes each of us who we are." .....Madeleine L'Engle – Author, ‘A Wrinkle in Time’

Last week we looked at what we have learned so far.  Monday, we resolved to make it a priority even if it’s just a few minutes per week. Today we’ll look at where we are going. 

After we have interviewed, gathered stories, and digitized the supporting photos and videos we will compile them into a video and then a book. Everything you have done so far now needs to be transferred to a computer.  Put it into a file that you can easily find as needed.  Under ‘Documents,’ make a new file bearing the family name.  Within that file you can place jpegs, videos, and transcripts.  You can always add new files within that file should you want to get more specific with an individual. 

You’ll want to make your video between 10 and 30 minutes with an introduction and an ending. Most often, the grandparents, great grandparents and great-great-grandparents on one side of your family can be condensed into one video.  Your parents however may need one of their own – or each parent may need their own! Why? In most cases, the family stories beyond the ones you lived yourself or your parents told you about are gone.  We can no longer capture those eras by first-hand accounts.  Let’s not let that happen again!  We have the technology to capture and save the family history for many generations to come IF we make it a priority and follow through.

“Who has that kind of time?”  It’s what I hear from people when I tell them what I do.  It comes right before or right after, “That’s a great idea!”

Last night while I was watching TV, I sat with my Flip-Pal and just scanned photos from an album.  I haven’t even downloaded them yet but at least they are now digitized.  I only have about 14,000 more to go!  ☺While I’m walking you through the making of a family history album week by week, you need to work at your own pace in your own time.  You might only work on it 20 minutes a week.  It will take longer than a week to complete each segment that way but anything is more than you had yesterday! 

I find it ironic that we have time to scan and make a slick collage of photos to post on Facebook yet have no time to save, file and catalog these photos for future family members. You have already scanned them!  Why not put them into a folder on your computer or cloud so you can later add them to your family tree video?!?!?  Two weeks ago was Father’s Day.  If you were one of the millions that scanned a picture of you with your dad or grandfather but have not made a folder on your computer to keep everything you find on previous generations, do it now. The folder should bear the family name and each photo should be numbered (0001, 0002, 0003 etc.) as well as titled with who is in it.

Find and open a jpeg on your computer. Any jpeg.  Now right click on it.  Click on Properties. The box that appears with tabs at the top will most likely be on the ‘Details’ tab. Now click on ‘Title’, ‘Subject’ or ‘Comments’. Click on the blank space to the right and you can add your own title, subject and any comments that you’d like.  Do that with the picture you just saved to your computer.  That information travels with the picture now that it is digitized. 0001-GreatGrandpa Ray, Military Service, Taken during WWI

Remember too that this is a project that has no real end.  You may want to focus on one person or one family unit and put what you have together now and move on to another branch of the family tree.  You can always add another person or unit as you gather more information. Again, anything you do makes a difference, and will make a huge difference to future family members trying to recreate the family tree.