Family history is fun when you can easily find the stuff you’ve already found,
but it can be awful frustrating when you can’t.

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Your next step is to get organized.  A little organization lets you know what information you have, where it came from, and where it is — thus, keeping you smiling and happy.

While there’s no reason (except for your future sanity) that you can’t keep everything in piles or toss it into a cardboard box — you’ll eventually want to have some kind of simple system for organizing your pedigree charts, family group sheets, research logs, documents, notes, and research helps — so you can easily find them when you need them.

The goal here is to be able to find any bit of family data you’ve gathered…within seconds!

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There are 5 parts to getting organized.  It’s easy and simple.  Here’s what to do:

a)  Gather — Get Your Family History Stuff gathered together into one place (in a box or on a table).

b)  File Folders — Set Up Some File Folders to sort your gathered pile of family history stuff into.

c)  Sort — Place Your Gathered Family History Stuff into the right file folders.

d)  Computer — Enter Your Family Information Into A Computer. If you don’t have one, computers (and help) are available in all the ward buildings.

e)  Binder — Set Up Your Family History Binder. This is where you’ll keep your pedigree charts, notes, guides, etc.

Your “organized” system should be:

• Simple to set up.
• Simple to maintain.
• Flexible.
• Understandable for future generations.

Your system should also let you quickly and easily:

• Know what information you have.
• Know what information you still need.
• Know what resources and records you’ve already checked.

Remember, keep it simple and keep it current — so you don’t have huge piles of unsorted information sitting around.

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Step 2a.  Gather Your Family History Stuff

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