Tuesday's Tip: Binder Organization

A little while back, a friend of mine asked me HOW I organize all of my genealogy-related findings.  I thought about it and realized that this might make a good blog post, especially for those new to family history research, or for those whose current system of organization is just not working for his/her research style.

If you ARE new to genealogy, it is important to realize that there is no right or wrong way in order to organize your digital and paper genealogy files.  Everyone does so a little (or a lot) differently and it really comes down to a matter of preferences, as long as your style is functional to you.

Between my and my husband's families, I have around 20 different binders in which I store paper copies of most of the documents I find.  They are organized by surname; some of my binders contain information only on one surname, others contain more than one surname.  I label all of the binders on the front with a simple cover page.

At the beginning of each binder, I try to include a basic family tree for quick reference.  For binders with more than one surname, I use plastic dividers with tabs, so I can easily find the family I am looking for. 

My binders are organized in chronological order, with the oldest records at the front and the newest at the back.  Each document gets one clear plastic binder sheet - a photocopy of the document itself goes on one side and any source information goes on the other side.  Using the clear plastic holders for every document does obviously add to the cost of my organization system, BUT it makes searching through the binders SO much faster, and I dare say it has eliminated many paper cuts I would have otherwise suffered from.

Side 1: Copy of Original Document

Side 2: Source Information

At the bottom of every copy of every original document, I write by hand the date and person of interest in the document.  This simple step helps me immensely when I am paging through the binder looking for one specific document.

I label every 'original' document by hand for quick reference.

For documents that may consist of more than one or two sheets of paper (immigrant ship lists, wills), I use these handy plastic binder pockets.  It would be fine if I simply put all the pages within a plain clear plastic binder sheet, but these pockets make it so much easier to take the sheets in and out.

Immigrant Ship List in Plastic Binder Pocket

So, what types of documents do I keep in my binders?  ANYTHING related to my or my husband direct ancestors AND their siblings, sometimes referred to as collateral ancestors.  I have done a little research on, say, nieces and nephews of direct ancestors, but, for now, most of those files I only keep digitally on my computer hard drive and cloud drive.  I have a system of separating direct ancestor documents from sibling documents in my binders: 

Separating Siblings From Direct Ancestors

I use big (sometimes really BIG) binder clips to "section-off" the documents/sources related to siblings of direct ancestors.  I stick a Post-It note on the front of each section that states HOW these people are related to the direct ancestors.  I always, always, always write a woman's maiden name on all documents/sources pertaining to female ancestors.  Also, on each document/source, I write, by hand, how this person is related to the direct ancestor:

I write the relationship between sibling and direct ancestor on bottom of each document/source page.

Other resources that I have been gradually adding to my binders are reference map printouts. Several of my husband's ancestral families stayed in the same counties for many generations, but maybe moved to a different township here and there.  So, I've printed out simple county maps with the townships delineated and put them in my binders, so that I don't have to keep Googling the maps on the computer.

Mercer County, Ohio Townships and Main Towns.