I am often without a computer for a week or so, but I can still work on my family tree if I have:
- The family history 'book' that I wrote on a typewriter in the 1980s. It has a lot of my data, detailed source references and a bibliography.
- Address book and Correspondence log (I can write letters on paper to relatives or repositories); 'Style sheet' to remind me how my filing system works; 'Where Is It?' index book.
- Small magnifier; 2B pencils; enclosed pencil sharpener (so I can put it in my pocket at repositories); good quality coil-bound notebook (A5 or A4); 4-ring binders and copysafe page protectors.
- Camera. Preferably digital, but an old SLR and a roll of film will do.
- Pedigree Charts and Family Group Sheets. With these I take a summary of names, dates, places etc to repositories where I cannot take a computer.
- Maps, including the Ordnance Survey Motoring Atlas of Great Britain. It shows rivers, hills etc that may influence where people went to market, church etc, and has a good place name index.
- The Macquarie Book of Events (Bryce Fraser). I can put my ancestors' lives in context if I know what was happening in Australia. The book covers Discovery, Settlement, People, Transport, Communications, Industries, Trade, Taxes, the Economy, Work Force, Regal/Vice-Regal, Politics, Law, Defence, Education, Religion, Health, Social Welfare, Science, the Environment, Arts, Disasters, Sport.
- Ancestral Trails: The Complete Guide to British Genealogy and Family History (Mark D. Herber).
- The Phillimore Atlas and Index of Parish Registers. Parish maps, topographical maps, location of parish registers/indexes (England, Scotland, Wales).
- Newspapers in Australian Libraries: a union list. Part 2: Australian newspapers. Often quicker than the Internet if you want to know what newspapers were published when/where and the location of copies.
What would you put on a 'Top Ten' list of things you need for genealogy?
I love Geniaus's list on http://geniaus.blogspot.com/2010/07/10-things-i-cant-live-without-to.html. It is all about people.
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