Although it’s already two weeks into January, my holiday travels (see Diary of an Australian Genealogist) have slowed down my blogging output. However I have been thinking about what I aspired to in 2011 (see My 2011 Genealogy Aspirations) and how well I managed to keep them in focus over what turned out to be another very busy year with lots of travel.
No 1 was finalising my mother’s Price family history and publishing it. Research on this led to a major breakthrough and the answer to something that had puzzled me for over 30 years (see Old Research, New Resources, Fresh Eyes). So this has to continue into 2012 as I am rewriting that section plus I have made contact with more members of the family recently so I need to incorporate some of that too.
No 2 was to learn more about DNA and its use in genealogy and this was progressed. I went along to talks on it by Kerry Farmer and Chris Paton but I have not done any further DNA testing. So another carry over into 2012.
No 3 was to learn more about my Cornish ancestors and Cornish culture and I joined the Cornish Association of Victoria and spent lots of time on the Cornwall Online Parish Clerks website. I’ve also agreed to give a talk on my Cornish miners to the Southern Sons of Cornwall Cornish Cultural Celebration later this year. This will probably be an ongoing part of my research now so I need to think up another goal for 2012.
No 4 was to continue to scan photographs and documents so that I have a digital copy as well as the paper copies and this has progressed but not as much as I wanted. It’s not something I can do while travelling so I really need to stay home more often (which is a goal for 2012 as we really do need to stay home to declutter and start packing for our move from Melbourne to what now looks like Port Macquarie). So scanning has to be on the 2012 agenda.
No 5 was to conserve and preserve family heirlooms and like No 4 it progressed slowly due to time away from home and will probably be done as we pack up (at least that’s the plan). However I also accumulated more items on Max’s side of the family (or rediscovered is probably more accurate) so lots to do in 2012.
So of my five aspirations, I can only dismiss one, do the DNA which is relatively straight forward and carry over the other three which are quite big given that I have been doing the family history since 1977 and have lots of information and memorabilia.
So here are my 2012 aspirations.
1. Write up my mother’s Price family history, including photographs and other illustrations in time for her 78th birthday
2. Do another DNA test, this time from a genealogy perspective and investigate my own DNA
3. Learn more about my Norwegian ancestors – I already know the basics from parish registers and census records but not the history and culture of Norway
4. Continue to scan photographs and documents so that I have digital copies as well as original copies and maintain a backup regime for both
5. Conserve and preserve family heirlooms I have collected ensuring they are boxed and stored appropriately
Hopefully during the year I will also progress other areas of my family history as new information comes online, new indexes are made available or long lost relatives make contact.
2012 is going to be another great year for genealogy!
2012 will be a great year for genealogy – best wishes as you pursue your goals.
Best wishes and good luck for achieving your goals. Can you please give us some hints on how to name and file scanned copies in an easy to retrieve system? I have just started scanning and with so many generations with the same name it is difficult. I don’t think I will ever be able to find what I am looking for in a hurry!
Shauna, I’ve found your posts so helpful. They’ve given me plenty of new directions to persue. I look forward to reading more in 2012!
Thanks for the comments and support Geniaus and Shelley and MyGenes101 for some tips on filing have a look at Geniaus’ blog Fling it in the Folder and the comments as well( http://geniaus.blogspot.com/2011/05/fling-it-in-folder-my-digital-filing.html )for some very useful tips – it has to suit your needs, which is why everyone’s filing is slightly different.
MyGenes101, I follow most of the advice in Sassy Jane’s Guide to Organizing Your Genealogical Research Using Archival Principles (mentioned in my recent post about genealogy blogs), but I use a modified version of her system for digital file names. I think dots, hyphens or underscores make the names more readable. Consistency is important though.