Protecting Genealogy Data

Aberfoyle Model Train Show

It's funny how things will pop into your mind just out of the blue and then take a life of their own. This was the case with my genealogy data recently. We are getting ready for our winter vacation so as always I worry. A few nights ago, I had a dream about the Aberfoyle Model Train Show and for some reason ghosts of my ancestors flitted through the dream. I awoke in a distressed state trying to make some sense of the dream when finally it hit me. Consciously, I recognized the great deal of time, love, dedication and effort that went into creating the Aberfoyle Junction display but subconsciously it came to me through my dream the thought it would be such a horrible shame to have it destroyed. The ancestral ghosts forced me to think of my genealogy data and how to protect it. Subconsciously, I recognized the need to protect my data further. It is just interesting to me how it blended together the way it did in the dream. I believe dreams always give us a lesson. It's up to us how we use that lesson.

I have a large genealogical database consisting of almost 7,000 individuals along with notes, annotations, sources and pictures. That database is always backed up each time I work on it. A copy is stored on each computer, each laptop and on a CD then a weekly copy is stored in a safety deposit box. Now this might sound like overkill but considering the amount of time and money I've spent on researching my family, it really is a very small price.

What I hadn't considered was protecting the hard copies! The vast majority of my hard copies have been scanned and of course backed-up but as the information is added to the database but that is not the same as the actual hard copies. I have at least four 4" binders stuffed full of documents, pictures and supporting evidence. It hit me that I've been extremely complacent. While this is most digitalized it is still a work in progress. If we ever had a fire almost 25 years of work would be gone! I expressed my concerns to my husband. He came home the next day with a fire and waterproof safe big enough to hold all four binders!

It is extremely important to scan and back up any genealogical data and it is very important to do regular and frequent back-ups. But don't forget to protect those hard copies!