I've been transcribing & sharing old letter & diaries, and then donating the originals and the transcriptions to Historical Societies that promise to keep them in their collections and make them available to researchers & genealogists. I keep both photocopies and the digital info, but am assured that when my info is in someone's basement, and someone else wants the info in 50 years, the original will be preserved.
Historical societies are grateful; I get a tax deduction. Most importantly the actual info is available to anyone interested, whether or not in "my" branch of the family. Cary -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jim Almquist Sent: Friday, April 28, 2006 5:20 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Why save copies of census records? I am trying to go both ways on archiving these old hard copies - digitizing as well as paper print outs. Digital is wonderful, but I deem it to be potentially "fragile". If the home made CDs and DVDs have such a short projected life, who is going to copy my files to new media every few years after I am unable. Who will migrate this data to new formats as the digital world continues to change almost daily? I'm not concerned about the public records, such as census schedules, which become easier to access all the time, but rather the one-of-a-kind personal items like old letters, bibles, family diaries, and photographs. These hard copies will continue to fill my file cabinets. In order to "back-up" these hardcopies, I share copies (digital & printed) with any of my families that show an interest, as well as keeping the more important originals in the bank safe deposit box ($120 per year) and use photo copies in my home files. My biggest problem at the present, is to find a way to make prints of the old photos that I have obtained as digital images. Wally World just dashed my plans to use their self service photo print shop ($1.52 for 8"x10") as they say the photos are still copyright protected. The family photos I was trying to print were taken from 1873 to about 1900. They said I must get a copyright release from the photographer even though there is no evidence of who that was. I really do hate to print these at home as the useful life is not nearly as long as those printed "professionally". I DO love redundancy! Jim ----- Original Message ----- From: "John S. Adams" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2006 5:24 PM Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Why save copies of census records? > Suppose you have a magnificent genealogy file: all your ancestors going > back 300 years identified, described and sourced; all yours sources and > pictures scanned and digitized. You've stored everything electronically > and backed it up six times. Everything is organized and labelled > meticulously. Tomorrow you get hit by a bus. Your executor goes through > your belongings and finds this box marked "GENEALOGY" full of labelled > CD's and gives it your granddaughter. She has no interest in genealogy, > so puts the box in a garage storage cabinet. 50 years from now her son is > going through her belongings and finds the box. He's a genealogist. He's > excited! He has visions of all those brickwalls crashing down. He opens > the box. He has no idea what all these thin, shiny disks are. Maybe > early 21st century coasters? > > It would be like finding a box of piano rolls and only having a DVD player > to play your music. > > The fact is that 300 years ago, the best way to save data for posterity > was on paper, and that is still the best way today, unfortunately. Don't > throw away those paper files! > > John S. Adams > Hermosa Beach, CA > "Just another day in paradise." > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Lewis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2006 1:28 PM > Subject: [LegacyUG] Why save copies of census records? > > >> Since I have been using Legacy to attach census images to people >> appearing in the census, I am wondering if there is any longer a need for >> a hard copy record. What do you think? Enter the drawing for a FREE Legacy Cruise to Alaska or a FREE research trip to Salt Lake's Family History Library. Open to users of Legacy 6 Deluxe. Enter online at http://legacyfamilytree.com/FreeTrip.asp Legacy User Group guidelines can be found at: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ For online technical support, please visit http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/Help.asp To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp RE Enter the drawing for a FREE Legacy Cruise to Alaska or a FREE research trip to Salt Lake's Family History Library. Open to users of Legacy 6 Deluxe. Enter online at http://legacyfamilytree.com/FreeTrip.asp Legacy User Group guidelines can be found at: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ For online technical support, please visit http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/Help.asp To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp
