The following are reader responses to the May 9 Quick Tip, "Lessons of a House Fire," from Moira Neville. As family historians, our task is the preservation of our family’s precious history, so this is an important topic to us. Below are some more tips and links of articles to help us insure that our family’s history is not lost to a disaster.
Tips from Readers
I was in the museum business before I retired and was investigating a fire-fighting system that used gas to put out the fire. Its advantage was that it wouldn't asphyxiate people like carbon dioxide would. And there was no water damage.
In response to Moira Neville’s Quick Tip of 9 May 2000, I also had a fire in December, which ruined my hard drive and my computer records. But I had submitted my research to the Ancestry World Tree, and I was able to download my data into a new computer.
I have also started to frequently back up my files. I had scanned my oldest pictures into the computer, primarily for recording or sending them to relatives, but I had saved these on a disc also. I was very fortunate to have put some of my documents in sheet protectors, so these were saved from most of the damage.
Finally, I got a safe deposit box at the bank to store copies of things. There, I kept a copy of my research and backup discs to the research. You never know what will happen, and you will realize only when it is too late that you should have taken measures to save your precious research.
Fay Staples
Huber Heights, Ohio
Please be aware that in a very hot fire, the temperature inside a safe may become so hot that your documents literally cook. A friend's home was a total loss in a fire, and the papers inside her safe were charred as though they had been placed in an oven on "broil." However, she also had several archival-quality photo albums on the shelf, and although severely damaged and wet, most of the photos inside these albums were salvageable.
I make several backup copies of all photos and save the backups in several locations. Photocopies are backed up to floppies or zip disks. In addition to this, I also distribute e-mail copies to relatives.
Another tip is: To those who have a CD-writer, copy those photos to a CD! Some CDs are supposed to last more than thirty years.
When scanning the photos, make your size changes in "options" BETWEEN the initial (first) scan and the final scan! In sizing, change to pixels and also change the height/width of photo, thus reducing the *.gif or *.jpg (jpeg) bytes. Doing this may prevent your photos from looking "dirtied" (dithering) or from resembling a paint-by-number photo and other types of scanning horrors.
In e-mailing the photos after scanning, how many times have you sent or received a large photo.gif that was over 1 MB in size? When this happens, you probably either:
1. Cancel the download of the oversized photo.
2. Sit and sit, waiting for the download.
3. Cannot view the photo accurately, i.e., the photo is so large that you cannot view it properly on the computer screen, or if you can, it is distorted.
Sizing the photo in "options" between the first and final scan can prevent the above.
Helpful Articles
"Are You Ready for Y2K?" by Mark Howells
(Ancestry Magazine, September/October 1999, Vol. 19, No. 5)
(Some great tips here for backing up data)
"Buying a File Cabinet" by Elizabeth Kelley Kerstens, CGRS
("Get It Together," 3/16/2000)
(Tips for buying a fire-proof or fire-resistant file cabinet.)
"Preservation of Your Paper Treasures" by George G. Morgan
("Along Those Lines . . ." 4/14/2000)
Free Off-site Backups
MyFamily.com
(A free, private, password-protected site at MyFamily.com is great for backing up files that contain personal information that you don’t want to make available to the general public, such as information on living persons. This also allows for saving scanned images of important photos and documents off-site, where they can’t be harmed by a disaster that hits your home.)
Ancestry.com Online Family Tree
(Another password-protected option for saving family history research. The Online Family Tree software allows you to enter your information electronically, even if you don’t have a GEDCOM file to download.)
Ancestry.com World Tree
(This option is for information that does not include living persons and allows for others to view your data, creating the opportunity to connect with others researching the same lines.)
Helpful Products
Life Steps Living Family Journal CD-ROM
(See today’s Product of the Day for a complete description. Files can then be backed up in the file cabinet of your MyFamily.com site or at another secure location.)
Ancestry Daily News
