Getting started with your family history

It's never too late or too much to get started with your family history. At the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center, we help patrons with this all the time, and here are some considerations.

What do you know? Jot down details you can remember, and find the gaps so you can ask questions of people that might know. Get out your trusty pencil and write names on the backs of photos -- not "Grandma and me," but Grandma's name, your name, approximate date and place, if known. Polypropylene sleeves are handy for organizing photos, and they're relatively easy to find.

How many of us have acidic photo albums from 60 years ago that are practically eating photographs? I know I do.

The album I'm working on right now is in surprisingly good shape, considering. A few weeks ago, I got a message on Facebook from a stranger, saying he had a photo album that I might want back, since it had my dad's elementary school report cards and a few postcards from a trip he'd taken. How did he have it? Found it in an old barn on property my parents had bought close to 50 years ago. The album itself looks like my grandmother started it in the 1950s, then Dad added some to it when he was in high school and college, and it got shelved in the barn in the 1970s. He found Dad's obituary online and contacted me to return the album.

I am eternally grateful for this, as I now have a great focus for another aspect of assembling my family history. But the process I'm taking with it is what I suggest for anyone. Assess what I have. What do I know about it? Dad didn't write much down, so I will likely throw away photographs that I can't tell who the people are or where they were taken. I'll keep the postcards and the few photos I can identify, and I'll add approximate dates, sleeve everything, and put it into a binder, while I discard the dusty, probably mildewed, too-acidic album.

I am also writing down the stories I can remember about what Dad told me about this time in his life, and anything else I can come up with. I'm fortunate that I recorded a couple of interviews with him before he died. Anyone can interview a family member. Most smartphones have a voice recorder app, and barring that, a simple digital recorder can cost less than $50. Start with general, fact-based questions, such as "What did your house look like? Who were family members who stood out to you?" That will generally help get your loved one into memories, and you can ask for clarification or more details depending on where the conversation goes.

At the Archive Center, we can help fill in gaps, whether with marriage records, family history books, or probate or tax records. Figuring out what you already know can help make asking those next questions so much easier.