Source document filing systems

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Steve Hayes

Source document filing systems

Legg inn av Steve Hayes » 02 mai 2006 05:39:57

I have followed the discussion of source document filing systems in the
Legacy User list with some interest.

Here are some links to other discussions of filing systems:

General discussions on filing systems

http://www.genealogy.com/75_donna.html

Rene Zamora's LJ entry on numbering systems

http://rzamor1.livejournal.com/19969.html

The first of these mentions that many systems, such as the Dollarhide
system, were devised and developed before computers.

The only system I know of that was devised to use computers is the
Research Data Filer that used to come with PAF, but was dropped after PAF
3.0. Unfortunately there has never been a satisfactory replacement, so I
still use it.

The older versions of PAF (2.31 and earlier) had two programs: Family
Records and Research Data Filer. Family Records (FR) was the usual
lineage-linked genealogy program, while the Research Data Filer (RDF) was
a program for keeping track of paper files. There was no attempt to
combine these in one program, since they were conceptually separate and
performed different tasks. I believe this was a good principle.

The Research Data Filer (RDF) program was designed to keep track of paper
files in the computer age. The basic principle was LET THE COMPUTER DO THE
WORK!

So there are NO colour codes, there is NO attempt to classify source
documents into different kinds (birth records, census records, land
records, obituaries etc). You can do that if you insist, but it is an
unnecessary complication.

For the physical filing, the main requirement is that you should be able
to find the document. So for this purpose, each document is given a
number, in the order in which you file it. The first one to go in the file
is Document 1, the second is Document 2 and so on. It doesn't matter what
kind of document it is. In the case of Legacy this is the number I put in
the "File ID" field when recording sources.

Of course not all sources lend themselves to being filed in this way. You
can't lift a ruddy great granite tombstone from a cemetery, punch holes in
it, and put it in a file. But you can put a description and transcription
in your paper file, and maybe even a photograph of the tombstone.

If an original document is in an archive or library, you can file your
notes, or a photocopy of the document. If it is a book in a library, you
file the full bibliographical information, the library where you found it,
and perhaps some notes you took from it.

The paper documents you file could even be a printout of notes you took
with a genealogy note-taking program like Genota or Clooz.

The important point is that each document you file is given a serial
number so that you can locate the document in your paper files by looking
up the number.

Research Data File has two files, Documents (.DOC) and Data (.DAT).

The first of these simply has the Document number (the sequential number
of the document in the paper files) and three lines of description. This
is where you say whether the document is a census, a birth certificate, a
land record, a will, a biography, etc. This is where you put location and
surname information. This is where you LET THE COMPUTER DO THE WORK.

The RDF program lets you "focus" on a group of records, based on what you
enter here. You can enter a place name, and it will focus on the place.
Then you can enter a surname, and it will further restrict the list of
documents to those containing that surname. Then you can enter a type of
document, like a will, and it will focus on wills relating to the place
and surname you have chosen.

The Data file is an index of persons. It has several fields --

Document Number, the page within the document

Name - the person's name; I put surname first, for sorting

Sex

Id -- for this I use the RIN in my main database, and if the person is not
in my main database, I leave it blank)

Event (as recorded in the document) -- birth, death, marriage, military,
education, whatever.

Date of the event (can be approximate)

Location of the event

Relations (as shown in the document). There are conventions for entering
information here F- for father, M- for mother and so on. Then three spaces
for Ids of relatives (I use RINs)

Notes - where one can record, for example, age and occupation at a census,
or any other significant information.

Again, one can "focus" - on a surname, a place, a relative, a date range
etc. Once one has narrowed the set of records, one can sort on any field,
and then print out the results (alas, however, it is a DOS program, and
many modern printers cannot print from DOS directly, so one has to use a
utility to print to a file, and then open the file in another program like
Wordpad in order to print it).

There are utilities available that let you export the "Data" file to other
programs - as a GEDCOM, or CSV to import into a spreadsheet or another
database program.

RDF is a bit dated now -- it was designed to store data in as compact a
form as possible, in the days when most computers were sold without hard
disks, and only two 360k floppy drives, so the field sizes are less than
generous, and the Notes field in particular is too small. But it did what
it set out to do, and it did it well. I have not found a satisfactory
replacement, though I really wish there were.

But the *principle* can work with other programs. One could use a generic
spreadsheet or database program to store the same information that RDF
keeps in its .DOC and .DAT files, though searching and sorting would not
be as easy, as the "focus" operation would have to be done by a user
defined function (UDF), which is probably beyond the skills of the average
user.

But the filing system suggested by the RDF documentation seems to be one
of the best for the computer age, based on the principle of "letting the
computer do the work".


--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

Kerry Raymond

Re: Source document filing systems

Legg inn av Kerry Raymond » 03 mai 2006 14:52:34

For the physical filing, the main requirement is that you should be able
to find the document. So for this purpose, each document is given a
number, in the order in which you file it. The first one to go in the file
is Document 1, the second is Document 2 and so on. It doesn't matter what
kind of document it is. In the case of Legacy this is the number I put in
the "File ID" field when recording sources.

Ah, but if you lose the File IDs, you have a problem.

Basically there is a trade-off between the amount of time you spend putting
something into the right place when you file it and the time it takes to
retrieve it. If you use a very simple system (one big shoe-box), then filing
is easy and retrieval is time-consuming. If you use a super filing system,
it can be complex to file but easy to retrieve. So you need to judge whether
you do more filing or more retrieval and design your system accordingly.

Filing documents by surname, then (if desired) by given name is a
compromise. It's relatively easy to find anything (without the need for
additional information like File Ids) but still relatively quick to file in
the first place. It can also be used by any non-IT-literate relatives who
can't work out how to find the File IDs or after you die and nobody knows
where you stored your database on-line.

Kerry

David J Grimshaw

Re: Source document filing systems

Legg inn av David J Grimshaw » 03 mai 2006 22:56:47

Kerry Raymond wrote:
For the physical filing, the main requirement is that you should be able
to find the document. So for this purpose, each document is given a
number, in the order in which you file it. The first one to go in the file
is Document 1, the second is Document 2 and so on. It doesn't matter what
kind of document it is. In the case of Legacy this is the number I put in
the "File ID" field when recording sources.


Ah, but if you lose the File IDs, you have a problem.

Basically there is a trade-off between the amount of time you spend putting
something into the right place when you file it and the time it takes to
retrieve it. If you use a very simple system (one big shoe-box), then filing
is easy and retrieval is time-consuming. If you use a super filing system,
it can be complex to file but easy to retrieve. So you need to judge whether
you do more filing or more retrieval and design your system accordingly.

Filing documents by surname, then (if desired) by given name is a
compromise. It's relatively easy to find anything (without the need for
additional information like File Ids) but still relatively quick to file in
the first place. It can also be used by any non-IT-literate relatives who
can't work out how to find the File IDs or after you die and nobody knows
where you stored your database on-line.

Kerry



Since I am carrying out a One Name Study I am filing the Certificates in

40 page A4 Clearfile Folders after I have scanned the certificates and
linked the scanned images to a vital index that I have made up for each
country from index's that are available, the intent is to send a mini
website on CD or DVD to what I call family, a copy of the mini website
will be also sent National Archives in the countries that the Family has
been found in.

I am using the Colour covered Clearfiles, Green for Births, Red for
Marriages and Black for Death, this means I get 80 certificates into
each Clearfile, filed in away to make the certificates double sided.
The certificates are being put in by year order for example for England
& Wales starting at the front with 1837 and working back to 1900
I will be putting in an individual spine name for each folder.

This system is working for me where as the system above in my case would
have some serious down falls as quite and number of John's, James,
Henry's, Robert's, Thomas's and William's do feature in the Family.

In a nut shell find a system that works best for your situation as all
have there merits.
David

Hugh Watkins

Re: Source document filing systems

Legg inn av Hugh Watkins » 04 mai 2006 17:53:22

David J Grimshaw wrote:

Kerry Raymond wrote:

For the physical filing, the main requirement is that you should be able
to find the document. So for this purpose, each document is given a
number, in the order in which you file it. The first one to go in the
file
is Document 1, the second is Document 2 and so on. It doesn't matter
what
kind of document it is. In the case of Legacy this is the number I
put in
the "File ID" field when recording sources.



Ah, but if you lose the File IDs, you have a problem.

Basically there is a trade-off between the amount of time you spend
putting something into the right place when you file it and the time
it takes to retrieve it. If you use a very simple system (one big
shoe-box), then filing is easy and retrieval is time-consuming. If you
use a super filing system, it can be complex to file but easy to
retrieve. So you need to judge whether you do more filing or more
retrieval and design your system accordingly.

Filing documents by surname, then (if desired) by given name is a
compromise. It's relatively easy to find anything (without the need
for additional information like File Ids) but still relatively quick
to file in the first place. It can also be used by any non-IT-literate
relatives who can't work out how to find the File IDs or after you die
and nobody knows where you stored your database on-line.

Kerry



Since I am carrying out a One Name Study I am filing the Certificates in
40 page A4 Clearfile Folders after I have scanned the certificates and
linked the scanned images to a vital index that I have made up for each
country from index's that are available, the intent is to send a mini
website on CD or DVD to what I call family, a copy of the mini website
will be also sent National Archives in the countries that the Family has
been found in.

I am using the Colour covered Clearfiles, Green for Births, Red for
Marriages and Black for Death, this means I get 80 certificates into
each Clearfile, filed in away to make the certificates double sided.
The certificates are being put in by year order for example for England
& Wales starting at the front with 1837 and working back to 1900
I will be putting in an individual spine name for each folder.

This system is working for me where as the system above in my case would
have some serious down falls as quite and number of John's, James,
Henry's, Robert's, Thomas's and William's do feature in the Family.

In a nut shell find a system that works best for your situation as all
have there merits.


you are talking office management
and archive indexing
or library catalogueing

plenty of ideas off line

or try Nuance - Paperport 10

PaperPort Professional 10 is the most productive and cost effective way
for ... PaperPort Professional combines the efficiency of document
management, ...
http://www.nuance.com/paperport/

Hugh W

David J Grimshaw

Re: Source document filing systems

Legg inn av David J Grimshaw » 04 mai 2006 22:21:17

Hugh Watkins wrote:
David J Grimshaw wrote:

Kerry Raymond wrote:

For the physical filing, the main requirement is that you should be
able
to find the document. So for this purpose, each document is given a
number, in the order in which you file it. The first one to go in
the file
is Document 1, the second is Document 2 and so on. It doesn't matter
what
kind of document it is. In the case of Legacy this is the number I
put in
the "File ID" field when recording sources.




Ah, but if you lose the File IDs, you have a problem.

Basically there is a trade-off between the amount of time you spend
putting something into the right place when you file it and the time
it takes to retrieve it. If you use a very simple system (one big
shoe-box), then filing is easy and retrieval is time-consuming. If
you use a super filing system, it can be complex to file but easy to
retrieve. So you need to judge whether you do more filing or more
retrieval and design your system accordingly.

Filing documents by surname, then (if desired) by given name is a
compromise. It's relatively easy to find anything (without the need
for additional information like File Ids) but still relatively quick
to file in the first place. It can also be used by any
non-IT-literate relatives who can't work out how to find the File IDs
or after you die and nobody knows where you stored your database
on-line.

Kerry



Since I am carrying out a One Name Study I am filing the Certificates
in 40 page A4 Clearfile Folders after I have scanned the certificates
and linked the scanned images to a vital index that I have made up for
each country from index's that are available, the intent is to send a
mini website on CD or DVD to what I call family, a copy of the mini
website will be also sent National Archives in the countries that the
Family has been found in.

I am using the Colour covered Clearfiles, Green for Births, Red for
Marriages and Black for Death, this means I get 80 certificates into
each Clearfile, filed in away to make the certificates double sided.
The certificates are being put in by year order for example for
England & Wales starting at the front with 1837 and working back to 1900
I will be putting in an individual spine name for each folder.

This system is working for me where as the system above in my case
would have some serious down falls as quite and number of John's,
James, Henry's, Robert's, Thomas's and William's do feature in the
Family.

In a nut shell find a system that works best for your situation as all
have there merits.



you are talking office management
and archive indexing
or library catalogueing

plenty of ideas off line

or try Nuance - Paperport 10

PaperPort Professional 10 is the most productive and cost effective way
for ... PaperPort Professional combines the efficiency of document
management, ...
http://www.nuance.com/paperport/

Hugh W
Hi Hugh,

I had never heard of that program so will look into it.
Thanks,
David

Cole

Re: Source document filing systems

Legg inn av Cole » 06 mai 2006 02:58:45

A lawyer friend of mine has a system that works for him and I like it.
He dumps everything into one big file then he uses a search engine to
find what he needs. It makes sense in that no matter what system you
use sometimes you just can't remember where you filed it. Just Google
it! Anybody can do that.

Cole

Gjest

Re: Source document filing systems

Legg inn av Gjest » 07 mai 2006 15:18:34

I think the key is to have one "master file" of your all sources with each
item given a unique identifier and filed in such a way that the document
can be retrieved and/or refiled with minimum effort. Simply numbering
every item sequentially and filing numerically meets this requirement.

Now you can start setting up your working file system by making copies of
your master documents. Example: you have a marriage record of Mary SMITH
and Joe JONES. You can make a copy of this record and put it in your
SMITH file, make a copy and put it in your JONES file, make a copy and put
it in your marriages file, etc, etc, etc. Use colored folders, use boxes,
use notebooks, use piles on the floor (that's me), it doesn't matter,
whatever works for you. All your working records are just copies from
your master file. MAKE SURE EACH COPY HAS A REFERENCE TO THE ORIGINAL
SOURCE IN THE MASTER FILE.

Let the xerox copier be your friend.

--

On Thu, 4 May 2006, David J Grimshaw wrote:

Kerry Raymond wrote:
For the physical filing, the main requirement is that you should be able
to find the document. So for this purpose, each document is given a
number, in the order in which you file it. The first one to go in the file
is Document 1, the second is Document 2 and so on. It doesn't matter what
kind of document it is. In the case of Legacy this is the number I put in
the "File ID" field when recording sources.


Ah, but if you lose the File IDs, you have a problem.

Basically there is a trade-off between the amount of time you spend putting
something into the right place when you file it and the time it takes to
retrieve it. If you use a very simple system (one big shoe-box), then filing
is easy and retrieval is time-consuming. If you use a super filing system,
it can be complex to file but easy to retrieve. So you need to judge whether
you do more filing or more retrieval and design your system accordingly.

Filing documents by surname, then (if desired) by given name is a
compromise. It's relatively easy to find anything (without the need for
additional information like File Ids) but still relatively quick to file in
the first place. It can also be used by any non-IT-literate relatives who
can't work out how to find the File IDs or after you die and nobody knows
where you stored your database on-line.

Kerry



Since I am carrying out a One Name Study I am filing the Certificates in
40 page A4 Clearfile Folders after I have scanned the certificates and
linked the scanned images to a vital index that I have made up for each
country from index's that are available, the intent is to send a mini
website on CD or DVD to what I call family, a copy of the mini website
will be also sent National Archives in the countries that the Family has
been found in.

I am using the Colour covered Clearfiles, Green for Births, Red for
Marriages and Black for Death, this means I get 80 certificates into
each Clearfile, filed in away to make the certificates double sided.
The certificates are being put in by year order for example for England
& Wales starting at the front with 1837 and working back to 1900
I will be putting in an individual spine name for each folder.

This system is working for me where as the system above in my case would
have some serious down falls as quite and number of John's, James,
Henry's, Robert's, Thomas's and William's do feature in the Family.

In a nut shell find a system that works best for your situation as all
have there merits.
David


Carole Allen

Re: Source document filing systems

Legg inn av Carole Allen » 29 mai 2006 07:13:59

On Sun, 7 May 2006 09:18:34 -0500, shmartonak@ticnet.com wrote:

I think the key is to have one "master file" of your all sources with each
item given a unique identifier and filed in such a way that the document
can be retrieved and/or refiled with minimum effort. Simply numbering
every item sequentially and filing numerically meets this requirement.

Now you can start setting up your working file system by making copies of
your master documents. Example: you have a marriage record of Mary SMITH
and Joe JONES. You can make a copy of this record and put it in your
SMITH file, make a copy and put it in your JONES file, make a copy and put
it in your marriages file, etc, etc, etc. Use colored folders, use boxes,
use notebooks, use piles on the floor (that's me), it doesn't matter,
whatever works for you. All your working records are just copies from
your master file. MAKE SURE EACH COPY HAS A REFERENCE TO THE ORIGINAL
SOURCE IN THE MASTER FILE.

Let the xerox copier be your friend.

--
With respect to original documents, I have archival pocket files,

marked with the Ahnentafel numbers...2-3, 8-9, etc. That comprises a
husband and wife. Any original documents go into that couple's
file...any documents re: their children (other than the one in the
direct descending line I am following) go in that pocket file.
This is just for filing original documents. If I want to retrieve a
document I just go to my master pedigree chart and find their numbers.

I have binders with [sourced] family sheets and individual sheets (in
numerical order, using the same numbers) so I can look up info easily.


Don't even ask me about my filing system for notes, correspondence,
etc.; still working on that.

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