Genealogy spring cleaning

By Nancy Battick

In years past, our grandmothers were itching to begin spring cleaning, after being shut in all winter and heating with wood or coal. I grew up in a wood-heated farmhouse and by this time of the year it was saturated with woodsmoke.

Genealogists should also be thinking of spring cleaning. While you’re clearing up the house, you might want to look at your genealogical materials. Is it time to thin files, records or photos?

I recently downsized my genealogical books and magazines, though I still have an ample collection. I toted the culled items to my local genealogical society, where they were happily snapped up by the members. 

It’s easy to accumulate publications you no longer use, whether it’s newspapers, magazines, newsletters, or books. As spring dawns, it might be a good idea to look at what’s on your bookshelves, stuffed in boxes, piled next to your chair or hiding here and there. You can always donate items to genealogists who may be thrilled to acquire them, or to a library or historical society, depending on their needs.

Also, if you’re spring cleaning, take a hard look at your files and documents. Do you need them all? Have you moved to doing everything digitally? If so, you might want to divest yourself of the stacks of paper that genealogists usually acquire. 

It’s so easy to get into the paper trap. You start researching a family or an individual. You find a lot of material online, you print it out, you file it, move it into a binder. Or, if you’re unorganized, it ends up in a box or a stack on the floor that you assure yourself you’re going to take care of one of these days. Then you’re off to the next individual or family and the cycle starts all over again. 

It’s easy to get lost and, since most people hate filing, their eagerly sought documents just become stacks in the corner catching dust. Maybe it’s time to take a good look at what you’ve found and decide if you really need it. If you’re using software to document your family research, you may be happy just to list a source for an entry or do a quotation without having to hang onto the actual paper document. 

Mind you, I don’t think you should ever divest yourself of original documents such as official copies of vital records, military service, letters, baptismal records or other primary sources. I do suggest you keep these in acid-free sleeves. These are the records that should be preserved and either passed down in families, if there is interest, or donated to a research archive along with your genealogical charts. Future genealogists will be delighted by this stash.

I’m just as guilty as the next genealogist in accumulating things and I am resolved to slowly work my way through it all. Wish me luck. 

Columnist Nancy Battick of Dover-Foxcroft has researched genealogy for over 30 years. She is past president of the Maine Genealogical Society, author of several genealogical articles and co-transcribed the Vital Records of Dover-Foxcroft. Nancy holds an MA in History from UM. Reader emails are welcome at nbattick@roadrunner.com.