First Steps in Organizing for the 2013 Challenge

At this stage in my life, I have built up and purged my personal library several times over; and, now I carefully contemplate the books I read based on my research and writing goals. Many of the books I select are not new releases. And for that reason, I have been fortunate to collect them, in their original hardcover editions, from Amazon.com or affiliated bookstores. Because of their age, perhaps seven to ten years since their release, I have been fortunate to gain them at a significant discount from their original price. This is the library that I will leave to my children, if they want it.

The titles may be found among African-American history, fiction and memoir...church history and inspirational books...historical fiction, published genealogies, and local histories. 

In addition to these books, are the volumes of binders containing my genealogical research, plastic file boxes of loose papers I gathered, and genealogical files I inherited. 

Somewhere among the boxes are artifacts...my parents' musical wedding album...the letters, post cards and photos my father sent my mother when he was in the Air Force and they were newlyweds...items my cousin gave me that had belonged to my grandmother...boxes of loose photos, envelopes of negatives, boxes and binders of slides my father took to inspire his painting.

All these things must be labeled, preserved, and archived. I have read about family historians who never received their legacy because of some family member's misplaced value upon photos or other cherished items that could potentially give us more clues to our family's past. And for this reason, I want to prepare them so they are available to inspire my writing when I need them, and store them, indexed, so they are easily found when the need arises. But more importantly, so that when they are in the hands of our children when they receive their legacy, they will have a greater understanding and appreciation for these artifacts because of the careful archival treatment they received during my lifetime.

Available at Barnes and Noble

So, today I ordered through Barnes and Noble, How to Archive Family Keepsakes, by Denise May Levenick. As a member, I saved substantially (32%) by placing my order online, and received FREE Member Express Shipping. All together, the total came to $18.00. Not only will my preparation for the Family History Writing Challenge be enhanced, but my bargain-shopper mentality was greatly satisfied. 

Denise is known as The Family Curator. I've been following her blog for a couple years now, but her latest book seems to assemble all the different aspects of caring for various types of family archival collections that she has shared with us over the years. 

I've been following her Blog Book Tour, and you can too! 

My copy is scheduled to ship tomorrow (Monday) and I should have it in hand by Thursday! I can hardly wait!