How do you keep your references and records?

This is really for the anoraks among us, but I would be very interested to know what systems members use for keeping track of primary evidence, statements, testimonies, letters home etc etc. Do you file by name, by event, by location, by regiment? Do you annotate books or flag up particular passages? How do you cross reference? Do you keep paper copies or digital? How easy is it to find what you want?
I am getting to the point where I know I have something but cannot easily find it! Help!

Steve

Hi Steve

Over the many years I have been researching this subject, I have used many different storage methods.
I first used paper in a filing cabinets, tape, External Hard Drives, CD's, DVD+R but like you could never find anything easy or quickly.

Thankfully this silver surfer has moved into the digital age a few years back. Now I only use a cloud.
The cloud is setup firstly as Name alphabetically and anything with that person is in that file. Then comes Regiment.

Over that last few years I have scanned books, articles, booklets, and anything that I have on paper and is now in the cloud.

I now find finding things very quickly. So it is a digital world for me now.

Andy

Thanks Andy, that's very useful. Whose cloud do you use, how do you load stuff up on to it, and how do you index it for retrieval?

Steve

Hi Steve

I use Dropbox, which can be free but I pay a small monthly fee for a 1TB of space. I have thousands of photographs, files and books on there and you can buy more space if needed.

I use a folder system on there for retrieval, just like a filing cabinet.

Uploading is just like Imgur.

You can access Dropbox from a PC, Smartphone & Tablet anywhere.

Give it a go Steve as you can get a free account to see how it works.

Andy

Hmm, this is a very interesting question!. i have been knocking
about the AZW fraternity for a few years now, in that time i have
gotten to know who collects what, and i'm including people from
other place's than this. so mainly we are talking about physical
items.. book's, report's inc blue book's, maps, prints, periodical's,
photograph's, clipping's and other paper related ephemera.

My question is... what is it that is being digitised?. in Graves case
i completely understand, same with Steve, genealogy record's
which take up a lot of room and in most cases original paperwork
that would be inherently unstable would greatly benefit from being
copied and stored in a retrieval system to cut out the handling of
original document's. but what else is being digitised?. i am familiar
with cloud storage, i have turned all such devises off!. i inherently
distrust them, who keep's this information secure and guarantees
there safety ongoing into the future, in the event that a major cyber
attack wipes it all away. yet to be convinced.. every thing i have
that is not in a bookcase or on the wall goes into boxes. in some
cases framed print's when opened will reveal three or more print's
lying behind them, so somebody in due time will get a nice surprise.
none of us can take it with us, and most item's simply are to large
to copy.

Hi xhosa2000

xhosa2000 wrote:

My question is... what is it that is being digitised?.

In may case I now digitise everything I have or find. Let me explain, I love books and the joy of paging through them to find what I want. I use to have a large collection of books and other information on the Zulu War. Then came a divorce five years ago and I lost 30 years research. The ex kept, destroyed or gave my research away. I had to start over again. This time I needed a way to store the information where it could not be destroyed by another person I knew. I know it is a risk with regards to a cyber attack but I am willing to risk it this time. As a paying customer they have to protect the information I upload to a agree. In my option this is the best way for me at that the moment until something else comes along which is better. Who knows what the future will bring.

Kind regards

Andy

I know what you mean about distrusting the digital archive but here's a case in point. Recently I went to the National Archives and photographed the entire confidential print of the government papers relating to the AZW in early 1879. That's about 300 pages which took me no more than about an hour and cost me nothing. To be of practical use those papers need to be annotated and split up in such a way that particular events and reports are accessible. Not long ago I would have had to make physical copies (at great cost so I probably wouldn't have) and filed them manually using some kind of alphabetical system. As it is I don't have physical copies but digital photos which I could split into subject folders and keep on my hard drive - but I could loose them easily so I back them up. Next problem is I run out of space on the computer which also operates as though it has a millstone around its neck. Hence the attraction of Andy's solution I suppose. I think I would also be doubtful about the cloud if it were the only place that records existed. But my photographs are just copies of the original documents which Kew will always have. I also want to be able to draw together extracts from books, primary accounts and photographs - not really possible other than digitally. Like you I have a library of books, many with paper markers sticking out at various points, but don't ask me now what half of them were for!

There has to be a better way. Keep the ideas coming.

Steve

Bonsoir Steve,
I send you a PM.
Kind regards.

Frédéric