Organization and Filing - Hard Copy

In starting my genealogy research journey I have been determined to be organized. I know that the information and amount of paperwork can get overwhelming and I want to not have any problems. Ideally, I should be able to pull out any source material quickly and easily. This requires a really good filing system.

 So, here's what I've done. I bought a file box with a lid on it to keep all my genealogy files in. There are two hanging folders, one for Troy's tree and one for mine. Then, within each hanging folder is a folder for each family. I've sorted these alphabetically by husband's name (last name first), then wife next, including their years because there are some sons with the father's name. So for example, one label might say:

MILLS, Stephen (1799-1874)
   m. TRIGG, Sara (1799-1874)

Within each of these manilla folders I can file documents or printouts that relate to that family group (parents and children). I also included a Family Group Record within each file. I'm not sure that I really need that, since I have it all in my database. Plus, I keep adding new things and changing what I know so I would rather not reprint it every time.

Some of what I've read and listened to suggests giving each paper within the file a number and adding that to your database. So far, I figure that I can look through one manilla folder without much trouble and find what I want. Maybe as I keep going and collecting more documents I'll need to do that.

Here's one question I had: Since I am a child of my father and a wife of my husband, where do I put my own documents? Answer - file the document in the file where the person belongs at the time the document was made.

For example, my birth certificate is filed in my Father's folder because I was a member of his family when I was born. Anything that happened on or after 9 Aug 2003 (my wedding date) will be filed in my Husband's folder because now we are a new family. Easy!

How do you keep track of all your papers? Next time I'll show you what I do with my digital files.