Saving Your Family Treasures
School's Out for Summer!
by Maureen Taylor

It's the end of the school year and my dining room table is groaning under the load of school papers deposited there in recent weeks. If you're a parent with school age children (pre-school included), then you know what I mean. Starting in September, your kids begin bringing home artwork, homework assignments, tests, and assorted memos from school. It adds up to a lot of paper. Sure, you want to save their important childhood memories, but what do you keep and how do you keep it? I'm often asked the following questions--what's worth keeping and what should I throw out?

Keeping on Top of the Mess
You may want to save everything, but after twelve years of school work, not including pre-school and kindergarten, you might need to add a storage closet or two for each child's contribution. Follow these two tips and eliminate clutter.

• Label unnamed papers with your child's name, the date (with year), grade, and teacher. If you do this as the work trickles in, you'll save time later. Try organizing a pile a papers a year later (or more), and you risk forgetting who did it and when. Use a soft lead pencil or a marker safe for scrapbooks, i.e., one that uses ink that is light-fast, water-resistant, fade-proof, quick-drying and acid-free such as a Zig marker (EK Success).
• Sort the papers into piles arranged by subject on a regular schedule such as once a week, a term or a school year. For example, keep different colored hanging files (for various subjects) in a plastic milk crate, and have the child add their assignments to each as they come home. While I don't suggest long term storage in plastic and acid paper, this pre-sort helps you get organized. Purchase acid and lignin free materials or non-PVC plastic for long term storage.

What's Important?
What's important differs in every family. For children that struggle in school, keeping key papers that show improvement are a great way to positively reinforce their academic progress. You'll have the proof. Saving these papers in acid and lignin free folders allows your child to reflect on their growth as a student during the school year, and reassures them about the next year before school starts again. These documents are great review material for the children who tend to forget during summer vacation what they learned in the previous year. Looking at their old work triggers their memory.

• Save vs. Toss
  The amount of school work you save may vary from year to year. While every scribble is precious to a preschooler's family, by the time your child is in 6th grade you might not want to save every item. Let go of the guilt. Remember: You can throw some things away. My mother kept a carton of material and presented it to me when we bought our first house. She thought it was time for me to take over storing my childhood. I couldn't believe all the stuff she kept.
• Let Your Child Help
  What's important to kids and parents may differ. My children and I have different ideas about what should be retained. My daughter wants to toss everything except her drawings. I let her store some of the art work, while we display other less valuable pieces in our kitchen. She has fun putting her work in our “gallery.” Given a chance, my son would throw out all school reminders. I circumvent this by putting aside material and then asking him for an opinion. Occasionally he'll surprise me by wanting to save something. Asking children to help enables them to share memories of the last school year and helps you tidy up. It also means that storage boxes are full of things that remind them of their school years and they include what I felt was worth keeping.

Storage
Whether you scrapbook, make a notebook of papers, or file everything in a storage box, just follow the basic rules of safe keeping: Use acid-and lignin-free paper or boxes and non-PVC plastics.

Each box, page or notebook acts as a time capsule, so in addition to school papers, save school-play programs, report cards, school photos, writing samples and for children that like to write--ask them to jot down a list of their ten favorite and (not so favorite) things about the last school year. While you've saved the paperwork, you've also retained their memories.

Another question I'm often asked is: Will my children's school papers last? Well, that depends. It depends on what they used to create them. For instance, poor quality newsprint drawing paper is probably acidic and will deteriorate over time. You slow that process down by using acid and lignin free storage materials. If you're concerned about the longevity of the pieces you've saved, you can photocopy them on acid and lignin free paper or photograph them for posterity.

I'm always surprised by how quickly the school year passes. One minute it's September, and then it's summer vacation. It's time for me to practice what I preach and tackle the piles on the dining room table before the new year begins.

Maureen is the author of Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs (Family Tree Books, 2005) and Preserving Your Family Photographs (Betterway, 2001). E-mail Maureen at mtaylor@taylorandstrong.com.

Copyright 2005, MyFamily.com.

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Ancestry Quick Tip
Ancestry Quick Tip Jamboree

It's time for this week's Ancestry Quick Tip Jamboree! Thanks to everyone who has sent in a Quick Tip. Please keep them coming so that we can keep this tradition going. You can send your tips to ADNeditor@ancestry.com.

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Have a great day!
Juliana

Using E-mails for Journaling
What spurred this email was your comment on keeping a journal or scrapbook for your trip. I have a group of friends to whom I send nightly emails, recording my adventures of the day, and laying out my plans for the next day. I save a copy of the email in my "sent folder" and save their replies in a folder labeled "trip". This is an easy way to keep a diary!

Also, since I am a woman traveling alone, it gives everyone the reassurance that I am still okay. I was warned that two days without hearing from me, and they would be sending out the highway patrol. Actually, I think this is a good piece of advice for women traveling alone.

Terry Bruce
Newport, Oregon

Chicago Catholic Cemeteries
The worker at All Saints cemetery in Des Plaines was a godsend. He told us that the archdiocese was putting a kiosk in at different catholic cemeteries in Chicago. These computers will print out where your loved-one is buried, with a little map to help you find the grave. We used this Kiosk at Queen of Heaven cemetery to find someone at Mt. Carmel and I now have a nice printout to put in my family book.

Sheryl Hooper-Folena
Elgin, IL

Show Those Home Movies
W e used to show our children movies that an uncle took of us when we were kids. Like Juliana said in her column on June 20, the kids got a kick out of seeing the "old fashioned" hair and clothes. (Actually, even the adults liked this.) The children also liked seeing their relatives as they looked when they were younger. Mom, Dad, aunts, uncles, and grandparents weren't "born old.”

Judy

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Clipping of the Day
The World War Officially Ends with the Signing of the Treaty of Versailles Today
From The Chillicothe Constitution (Chillicothe, Missouri), 28 June 1919, page 1

Foreign Minister Mueller and Colonial Secretary Bell Sign Document For New German Government Without Comment--An Impressive Ceremony

. . . .

Versailles, June 28.--The greatest war in history formally ended today with the signing of the peace treaty. The ceremony took place in the historic palace of Versailles, proceeding with clock like regularity.

The German delegates placed their signatures on the document at 3:12 p.m. today. President Wilson signed two minutes later and was followed by Premier Lloyd George, who signed at 3:17 p.m. . . .

As the allied peace delegates descended the terrace at the conclusion of the ceremony guns boomed and thousands of jets of water spurted from the fountain in the park. Several thousand civilians, delerious [sic] with joy, cheered the delegates who were showered with flowers. A portion of the crowd swept over the police barriers and for a moment the delegates were imprisoned by shouting, jesticulating civilians. President Wilson tried to turn back but the people surged forward and pushed him and the others the full length of the terrace where troops succeeded in opening the way for them to their automobiles.

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Fast Fact
New Content Centers at Ancestry.com

Ancestry.com has added new Content Centers to its website, for Census, which can be found by clicking on each record type (e.g., Census, Immigration, Military, etc.) from the main search page (www.ancestry.com/rd/advanced.htm).

Content centers provide helpful information about each record type, such as articles on reading old handwriting, search tips, and other follow-up records you'll want to explore. There are also links to free charts and forms. Each center has exclusive materials that can help users get a feel for that particular record type.

Check out the content centers by selecting a record type at www.ancestry.com/rd/advanced.htm.

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Thought for Today
Samuel Johnson

"Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance."