The Genealogy Filing Cabinet

Updated July 28, 2007

Some people prefer to keep everything in page protectors in notebooks. I must admit I love using notebooks for things whenever possible because papers don't fall out, and I'm a sucker for the neat organization they provide, but there is so much paperwork in genealogy that it would simply cost too much to buy the number of notebooks I would need, all the dividers, and all the page protectors, so I use a filing cabinet, hanging files folders, and plain manila folders.

Many genealogists organize their files by individual or surname, and that's the method I started with as well, but I learned quickly that many documents have information about more than one individual, and by using such a filing method you have to create multiple copies of a document, one for each individual. This adds up to a lot of paperwork, which takes up space, so I have set up a system in which I only need to file master copies of documents in a filing cabinet, while my duplicates are neatly stored on my computer (and backed-up frequently).

I organize my files like a library organizes books. When you go to the library and want to look for a book about religion, you will find it in the religion section. If an individual writes a book about religion and another astrophysics, they don't make a special section just for him, they simply file one book under religion and the other under astrophysics. Likewise, with my files, I organize them by subject (all birth certificates go together, all death certificates go together, and so forth) rather than by individual. Then I group them together by surname.

Example:

Hanging File Folder Labeled: Birth Records

*Sub-folders are organized in alphabetical order (HELMER comes before SMITH). *The contents of sub-folders are also organized in alphabetical order by first then middle name (Kristen HELMER's birth certificate would be placed in front of Peter HELMER's birth certificate).

Sub-Folder Labeled: HELMER Birth Records (all the birth records for everyone with the last name HELMER) Sub-Folder Labeled: SMITH Birth Records (all the birth records for everyone with the last name SMITH)

Hanging File Folder Labeled: Death Records

Sub-Folder Labeled: HELMER Death Records (all the death records for everyone with the the last name HELMER) Sub-Folder Labeled: SMITH Death Records (all the death records for everyone with the last name SMITH

(You can be as specific as you wish when creating your files. For example, instead of "birth records" you could have a hanging file folder just for birth certificates and another for just birth indexes and so forth.)

I only file a document under the surname the document was primarily about. For example: Susan JONES may have her father, Robert JONES, and her mother, Sally SMITH (maiden name), both listed on her birth certificate, but instead of filing one copy under JONES and another under SMITH, I only file it under JONES because the document is primarily about Susan JONES, not Sally SMITH. The only time I need to make duplicates are for sources on which the primary individuals on the document have different last names, such as marriage Records. In the case of Robert JONES and Sally SMITH, I would make a copy of the certificate for the JONES Marriage Records file and another copy for the SMITH Marriage Records file.

I also always use maiden names to determine where to file documents for an individual. When Sally SMITH got married, she changed her name to Sally JONES, but instead of filing documents about Sally JONES under JONES, I file them under SMITH because that's her maiden name. When alphabetizing the documents in the folder, I alphabetize by first then middle name only, so I don't need to worry about whether I should file a document about Sally JONES before or after a document about Donald SMITH. I ignore the last name and simply put Donald's document in front of Sally's.

Some documents, such as letters from family members, have information about a many individuals. Rather than make a copy to file under each surname discussed in the letter, I file the letter under the name (not the just the surname) of the person who wrote it.

Hanging File Folder Labeled: Letters

*Sub-folders are organized in alphabetical order (JONES, Robert comes before JONES, Susan). *The contents of sub-folders are organized chronologically (a letter written on 3 January 1998 would be placed in front of a letter written on 10 February 1998.)

Sub-Folder Labeled: JONES, Robert - Letters Sub-Folder Labeled: JONES, Susan - Letters Sub-Folder Labeled: SMITH, Sally - Letters

Make sure you put the category and the name on the folder. Otherwise when you find ten folders on your desk labeled HELMER, you'll have to flip through each one to figure out where it belongs in the filing cabinet. (If you had labeled the category on the folder along with the name, you would immediately know where to put each folder.)

So what if I want to find out the names of all of Sally SMITH's children? Their birth certificates aren't located in the SMITH file. If I know that she has a daughter names Susan JONES I would know to look in the JONES file, but what if I didn't remember her daughter's name? This is why many genealogists have a folder for every individual, but to save on paper and space, I just look up her family group sheet. This is where my computer and notebook come in.