digitize your genealogy

Digitize Your Genealogy

Ritter Public Library2013

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Advantages of digitizing your Genealogy

Create backup copies of your research and pictures. Share your research and make multiple copies for family

members. Eliminate clutter and paper. It is still advised to keep a paper copy of your research. Preserve your original work and archive your pictures.

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Your pictures and original documents will be safe. They won’t get scratched, bent or folded …

Photos can be fixed – scratches removed, colors adjusted, and you can even remove an old boyfriend!

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Getting OrganizedStart with a plan.

What is the purpose of your album? What size will you make it? What do you want to include? Make an outline of people / events to include. Will all pages have the same background or be

different? Browse the internet for

examples to get ideas.

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Themes Holiday traditions Family occupations Emigration Locations Military Ancestors who have inspired you Family vacations Involvement in news events Treasures and collections Pioneer ancestors Family reunions Special days (births, deaths, baptisms, weddings…) Folklore Namesakes Clubs or hobbies

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Things to include Ancestral Charts Family Group Sheets Census Charts Certificates of birth, marriage, baptismal, naturalization… Pictures Letters Family recipes Bibles (scan family tree section) Photos of beloved objects or

collectibles (china patterns, patterned fabric)

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Scrapbooking without photos

If you don’t have any photos try doing one of these: Draw a picture Write a story about the ancestor Take a picture of a location, building or event you are scrapbooking. Feature an object that was from an ancestor or

event. (i.e. fabric, china pattern…)

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Tips using the scanner

• Scan and save items in jpg format. • Remember older pictures are fragile, handle them

with care. • If you have photos that are mounted in an album

and can’t be easily removed, scan the whole album page.

• You could also take a close up photo of the page.

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Photo Preservation Tips

Store your photos in a cool/cold location, but not too humid. Heat accelerates the aging process.

Keep your photos in a fire and water-proof box. Keep your photos above ground to avoid floods.

Never display or frame an original photo; instead, make a copy and display the copy.

Never use albums with adhesive pages. The plastic eventually sticks to the photos and chemically reacts with the plastic sheet.

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Free Tools

Copy documents found online using ScreenHunter or any screen capture program. You can also use Alt + Print Screen keys on your keyboard to copy an image online.

Manage your pictures and scanned items with Picasa or another photo editing program.

Embellish your pages with backgrounds, fonts, clip art and frames found on digital scrapbooking websites.

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ScreenHunter Free This is a free program that will let you copy a

specific section of a picture or document online and save it as a jpeg.

Google “ScreenHunter Free” to download it.

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You can add circles, lines, arrows, etc. to emphasize an

area of the screen shot.

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Managing your documents and photos once they’re scanned

Picasa – free from Google http://picasa.google.com Picasa gives you the ability to give any picture

an antique look by changing it to sepia or black and white.

Picasa helps you organize your pictures as well back them up online.

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Picasa

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Organize

Edit

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Original – notice all the white spots.

Using Picasa’s retouch tool, I could remove many of the white spots from the original.

Using Scrapbooking software

Enables you to layer items quickly and easily. Photos must be edited first – before you

import them. Complete pages can be saved as jpegs. Many websites will host your pages or sell you

space. Easy to get commercially printed.

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Adobe Photoshop Starts around $100 Not necessary for the

hobbyist, but may be worth it if you’re investing a lot of time and energy into your projects.

Allows you much more flexibility in photo editing – you can “erase” people and backgrounds.

You can edit photos and create layered pages in the same place.

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MS PowerPoint

You can make simple pages without having to purchase scrapbooking software.

Pages can be saved as jpegs. This makes it easy to share online or get commercially printed.

There is a cost to purchase it, but it’s free at the library.

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Google Presentation works like Power Point

File > Page Setup to select finished size.

File > Download as > select JPEG image.

Add background, embellishments, scans, photos, etc.

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Backgrounds

Avoid anything too bold or busy. Your content should be the focus.

Fun backgrounds to try: enlarging a handwriting sample enlarge a photo (house, landscape, fabric) and use

editing tools to make it transparent or faded

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Frames

You can find lots of decorative digital frames to enhance your photos.

Use digital photo corners to create the look of an old fashioned photo album.

Digital ribbons, flowers, clips, buttons can all enhance a photo.

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Journaling

This is the most important part! Share all you know! Select a font that is easy to read for the bulk of your

text. Headings and labels can be fancier or even done in block letters.

Many different fonts are available for free on the internet.

Journal boxes can be downloaded that will give your text more interest.

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Simply add a text box to your page. Select no fill and no line.Move box over the journal area.

Printing tips

If you choose to make your album 8x10, it will be easy to get printed at any photo processing place or print at home.

If you choose to make it 12x12, you’ll need to order prints online and they’re much more expensive.

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Online ResourcesLook at galleries on any of the

scrapbooking websites for ideas.

Most websites that print photos and photo gifts have the option of photo books.

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Print Resources

Any books or magazines related to scrapbooking or genealogy will have ideas for you: Digital Scrapbooking for Dummies Scrapbooking for Dummies Family Tree Maker for Dummies Genealogy Online for Dummies Scrapbooking Your Family History Creating Heritage Scrapbooks Scrapbooking Your Family Heritage

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