Genealogy: Preserving your family's history

A family's history is always a story in progress, one that needs to be preserved and shared. If you've done your genealogy homework, put your knowledge to good use with these project ideas. If you need a jumpstart on the research go to Genealogy 101.

Compiling family photo books and scrapbooks

Photos are a powerful way to tell your family's story, so gather all the pictures you've found in your research and create a family history photo album. Don't forget the captions! You can buy albums that have space to write something about each photo, or you can simply write on small mailing labels and stick them under each picture.

While you're at it, take all the recent family snapshots you've thrown in a shoebox and put those in albums, too. Remember, history happens every day, and it's easier to keep names and places straight now than it will be years down the road, especially if it's up to someone else to fill in the blanks. Label each album on its spine with dates so you can easily find the pictures you're looking for later on.

Or you can put all your family photos in a scrapbook. This works if you have other memorabilia besides just photos that you'd like to preserve, such as tickets from the ship your ancestors took to the Canada, copies of birth certificates, maps, love letters, newspaper articles on family members, or wedding invitations. Scrapbooks are also perfect if you want a simple way to record the stories that go along with the pictures, just write them down longhand next to the photos.