Scrapbooking for Posterity

A new book, Family History Scrapbooking by Becky Higgins, is packed with great ideas on how to create a priceless heirloom gift - a scrapbook crammed with family photos and stories.

The author suggests creating a complete family history library with a binder for each family member, a scrapbok filled with a summary of the people in your life, an album of family stories and snapshots, an album of family recipes passed down through the generations, or a children's storybook with pictures of ancestors and interesting tidbits about them.

Start with your own memories, and build from there. Then, use technology to your best advantage to contact your relatives and start digging. The age in which we live has numerous advantages for genealogical and family history research. We have free or cheap long distance phone calls as well as e-mail and the ability to instantly find phone numbers and addresses on the Internet.

If you have elderly relatives and you're at all interested in family history research (and you must be if you're reading this blog), it's crucial that you interview these folks as soon as possible, while their minds are still sharp and they are still among the living. There are some bits of information that you won't find in any book or with any online service. First and foremost, have your relatives identify people in old photographs. This might jog their memories for stories about those pictured. Once the faucet starts running, more and more memories might spill forth, more than enough to fill a binder or notebook.


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