Take the \u2018Family History Through the Alphabet\u2019 Challenge<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n
\n![\"o\"](\"http:\/\/lh3.ggpht.com\/-0Ckpn15QBv8\/UXhgh97ff2I\/AAAAAAAAIko\/yzzjYua8Mm8\/o3.jpg?imgmax=800\" "\\"o\\"")
Although I could spend weeks writing about organization, I decided on a specific area of organization, that being digital images.\u00a0 In this post I\u2019ll share with you how I structure my files, how I name them, and how to add metadata for future reference.<\/p>\n
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Over the last few years, the organizational structure for my digital images has evolved and I am quite content with where it is now.\u00a0 I won\u2019t bore you with the details of the evolution, or how I\u2019m still in the process of getting all my files named correctly, but I will share with you what I do.<\/p>\n
Hierarchy<\/strong><\/p>\nFirst, I have a main folder named Family Tree.\u00a0 This folder holds everything related to my personal genealogy research, including my Legacy Family Tree file, digital images of records, photos, resources (such as digitized county histories and maps), correspondence, reports, forms and templates, articles and stories I\u2019ve written or am working on, etc.\u00a0 For the purpose of this post, I will focus on my Images & Documents folder, which contains three subfolders, one for records related to my husband\u2019s family, one for my family, and a research folder.\u00a0 Note:\u00a0 I named my Images & Document folder with \u201c00 \u2013\u201d at the beginning of the folder name so that it appears at the top of my list.<\/p>\n
![\"Hierarchy\"](\"http:\/\/lh5.ggpht.com\/-ziL1eOMamg0\/UXhgicYfIJI\/AAAAAAAAIkw\/i4O0uBSlm_4\/Hierarchy3.jpg?imgmax=800\" "\\"Hierarchy\\"")
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The two family folders are organized by surname and will be the focus of this post.\u00a0 But before I move onto that, I want to share what the Research folder is and how I use it.\u00a0 The Research folder is further broken down into four subfolders:<\/p>\n
\n- Active Research<\/strong> \u2013 This folder contains an array of materials that pertain to some of my bigger research problems.\u00a0 It\u2019s arranged by research problem and the files could be digital images, notes, proof summaries, etc.\u00a0 If I feel that something has been proven, I will move the files to the applicable family\/surname folder.<\/li>\n
- Reports<\/strong> \u2013 This folder contains mostly spreadsheets that keep track of records I need to search or pull.<\/li>\n
- Resources & Reference Materials<\/strong> \u2013 This folder contains various resources such as digitized county histories, maps, atlases, locality guides, and other information on a particular area.\u00a0 The subfolders are arranged by state, then county, then city\/town (if necessary).\u00a0 For example, below is my Illinois folder.\u00a0 Anything that pertains to the state as a whole is in that main folder.\u00a0 Anything that pertains to one of the three counties goes in the applicable folder.\u00a0 The Cook County folder also has a subfolder for Chicago.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"ILfolder\"](\"http:\/\/lh6.ggpht.com\/-eGzbrPvi0Ns\/UXhgijhT4xI\/AAAAAAAAIk4\/rB07fu829j0\/ILfolder3.jpg?imgmax=800\" "\\"ILfolder\\"")
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\n- To Process<\/strong> \u2013 This folder contains a variety of digital records that I have obtain but have not yet been able to process.\u00a0 Once they are processed, they will get renamed and moved to the appropriate family\/surname folder.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
As I mentioned earlier, the family folder (there\u2019s one for me and one for my husband) is broken down by surname.\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice in the image below that I again use numbers in front of folder titles, again to bring them to the top.\u00a0 When I don\u2019t know the maiden name of a female, it goes in the Unknown Maiden Name folder.\u00a0 The Unknowns folder holds a few unidentified photos and some documents from my family papers that I don\u2019t know who they belong to.<\/p>\n
![\"Juliefolder\"](\"http:\/\/lh3.ggpht.com\/-sQFaTjn3-3E\/UXhgiwp7RfI\/AAAAAAAAIlA\/oJoPIrG_mUM\/Juliefolder3.jpg?imgmax=800\" "\\"Juliefolder\\"")
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Within these surname folders, there is a Photos folder and all the digital records associated with that surname.\u00a0 My naming convention is how I keep them organized without have to add yet another layer of folders.<\/p>\n
![\"CahilFolder\"](\"http:\/\/lh3.ggpht.com\/-aWu2Tpf-wqQ\/UXhgjSsB45I\/AAAAAAAAIlI\/gHBgOc1-Rnw\/CahilFolder3.jpg?imgmax=800\" "\\"CahilFolder\\"")
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So now that you\u2019ve seen how my files and folders are structured, let\u2019s turn to the naming convention I use.<\/p>\n
Naming Convention<\/strong><\/p>\nThis is the part that has evolved over time and I have found something that works for me and am in the process of updating all of my files to follow the same convention.\u00a0 At any rate, here is how I name my files:<\/p>\n
LAST, First Middle RIN \u2013 Year Record<\/p>\n
The RIN is the number assigned to each individual in my database (and will carry over to other programs if I ever switch).\u00a0 This helps me deal with people of the same name, as well as knowing exactly which person a record matches up to in my database.<\/p>\n
So for example, the file name for the 1847 Luxembourg census record for my fourth great-grandfather, Heinrich Schwartz, would look like this:<\/p>\n
SCHWARTZ, Heinrich 10132 \u2013 1847 Luxembourg Census<\/p>\n
Another example, using a middle name, would be my grandfather\u2019s death certificate, which would look like this:<\/p>\n
CAHILL, John Francis 96 \u2013 1984 County Death Certificate<\/p>\n
I would also like to note that I file everything by the main person of the record.\u00a0 So for example, a female\u2019s death certificate would be filed under her maiden name, not her married name.\u00a0 Additionally, I only save one copy of a census record filed under the head (when it\u2019s the female, again, it goes under her maiden name).\u00a0 I\u2019ve found that this is easier for me than dealing with family groups, especially when multiple marriages are involved.<\/p>\n
Metadata<\/strong><\/p>\nThe last thing I want to share with you is how I use metadata to further define my digital images.\u00a0 Metadata is sometimes tricky and different depending on the file type.\u00a0 All of my images are saved as high-resolution JPG files, so the process I will demonstrate will work for those files types, as well as a few others including TIF files.<\/p>\n
In order for me to know the source of the image, I simply use the source citation and place it in the Comments box in the properties of the image file.\u00a0 To do this on a PC, right-click on the file and choose Properties.<\/p>\n
![\"Menu\"](\"http:\/\/lh4.ggpht.com\/-VpAvKLA190Q\/UXhgjmAtPGI\/AAAAAAAAIlQ\/jVimHd5-zlw\/Menu%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800\" "\\"Menu\\"")
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Then click on the Details tab.<\/p>\n
![\"Properties\"](\"http:\/\/lh5.ggpht.com\/-FrEIGiYExXk\/UXhgkG7UGnI\/AAAAAAAAIlY\/Zal2CzlvjGw\/Properties%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800\" "\\"Properties\\"")
<\/p>\n
Then type (or paste) the citation in the Comments field.<\/p>\n
![\"Comments\"](\"http:\/\/lh4.ggpht.com\/-rKXvm57FAps\/UXhgkcGiPNI\/AAAAAAAAIlg\/ZBAAMTQiP1c\/Comments%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800\" "\\"Comments\\"")
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The other thing I do is add tags for all the people associated with a record.\u00a0 This way, I can run a search on a tag and find all of the images that pertain to that person, even if the image isn\u2019t filed under that particular person.\u00a0 Remember I said I only save one copy of a census?\u00a0 This is how I compensate (same goes for photographs with multiple people).\u00a0 For the tags, I use the RIN number for each person so that it is consistent and I know who corresponds to who in my database.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll notice in the image above, there is a Tag field right above the Comments field.\u00a0 So you would follow the same process to get to the Details and add in your tags.<\/p>\n
Wrap-Up<\/strong><\/p>\nI hope this post gave you some insight into how I manage my digital images.\u00a0 There are plenty of ways to organize your digital images; I\u2019m simply sharing the way that works for me.\u00a0 I can\u2019t say that it will work for you, as we all operate and think differently.\u00a0 But maybe it will or maybe it will spark an idea of your own that will work better for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For 26 weeks I will take you on a family history journey through the alphabet, one letter at a time.\u00a0 I have decided that each post will be educational in nature, focusing on topics related to resources, methodology, tools, etc.\u00a0 Although the challenge is complete, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,25],"tags":[350],"class_list":["post-328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-to","category-genblog","tag-family-history-through-the-alphabet","cat-27-id","cat-25-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3HcLI-5i","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2765,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions\/2765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Family-History-Through-the-Alphabet\"](\"http:\/\/lh4.ggpht.com\/-IM7NMF2BGPg\/UXhghRjeNQI\/AAAAAAAAIkg\/HZFUNIB0h7Y\/Family-History-Through-the-Alphabet4.jpg?imgmax=800\" "\\"Family-History-Through-the-Alphabet\\"")
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