Individuals Activities

4. Documenting the Past

Overview: All of us can help in the quest to preserve the past. "A life that is not documented is a life that within a generation or two will largely be lost to memory. What a tragedy this can be in the history of a family. Knowledge of our ancestors shapes us and instills within us values that give direction and meaning to our lives.” Dennis B. Neuenschwander

Activities marked by an asterisk (*) take little or no prep time.

*I4-01: Tell Your Stories
Check out these tips for telling stories and this info from the Activities for Individuals Section of The Family History Guide (see I1-07): See FamilySearch Project 2: Goal 8 to see how to preserve stories on FamilySearch. For fun, sponsor a family history storytelling event, or create a collection of family stories. Check out Crista Cowan's tips for telling your family stories in this video from Ancestry and find the stories on your family tree using the All The Stories site. Read more about this app here.

I4-02: Keep a Personal Journal
Keep a journal, both for yourself and for generations to come. Read Why You Should Keep A Journal and How To Start Yours. For more help and inspiration see this blog post. Learn more in this article by Thai Nguyen: The Surprising Benefits of Keeping a Journal.

*I4-03: Build a Timeline
Create a free ancestor timeline on the MooseRoots site. Learn about more options here, and discover how to use timelines to plot out and preserve memories of your ancestor’s life or to remember and document your own. See this blog post for other timeline resources.

*I4-04: Add Memories to a Family History Site (FamilySearch, Ancestry, MyHeritage, Findmypast)
Preserve your photos, documents and stories online for generations to come. Instructions are in each learning path of The Family History Guide. Connect with living family members to collect what you need. See the blog post Capturing Memories Before Its Too Late. For example, to add and tag photos to FamilySearch Memories, see Project 2 Goal 8.

I4-05: Write a Life Sketch
Life sketches provide a good overview of your own life or that of an ancestor. They are not meant to be long and detailed, but definitely informative and descriptive. See FamilySearch Project 2, Goal 9 in The Family History Guide for help with this project.

I4-06: Build Ancestor Profiles
Learn about the origins and relationships of an ancestor and put together an ancestor profile, with the help of this Deseret News article.

I4-07: Keep a Personal or Family Blog, or Website
Learn how to share events, activities, family news, milestones, stories, photos, videos, and memories in this blog post by Lisa Louise Cooke.

I4-08: Help Make Records Searchable by Indexing
Using FamilySearch, help preserve valuable family information can easily extract it from historical records to create free, searchable indexes. Find step-by-step instructions in The Family History Guide using FamilySearch Project 5, and in familySearch.org/indexing.

I4-09: Write Life Stories
Work with your parents or grandparents to write their life stories, and write your own. See this blog post for suggestions, and consider incorporating the 52 Stories from FamilySearch to simplify and organize your project, as well as the FamilySearch Memories App audio tool. See Goal 3 in any of the Memories Projects of The Family History Guide. See this informative blog post for additional help: Using FamilySearch Apps to Record Oral Histories.

I4-10: Collaborate With Others
Plan activities to spend time with family members and others who can help you discover information you need, overcome myths and mistakes mentioned in this blog post, and create memories while preserving and documenting old ones as described here. Tap into Genealogy societies who publish magazines, offer support groups, and provide a wealth of family history information. Find help with all aspects of collaboration in FamilySearch Project 6, Ancestry Project 5, MyHeritage Project 5, and FindMyPast Project 5.

I4-11: Create a Family History Book
Preserve your family history by creating a simple heritage scrapbook or a bound book. Find step-by-step instructions from writing to publishing your book in this article by Lynn Palermo. Find help from Ancestry for publishing a Family History Book in Project 5, Goal 6 of The Family History Guide. Check out these tips from FamilySearch. Also create a free digital scrapbook with these tips.

*I4-12: Use Google Photos to Create a "Best of" Photo Album on FamilySearch
Click here to find out how, and have fun creating a curated collection of classic photos that span your lifetime or center on important life events. Tag and share!

I4-13: Give the Gift of Family History
Celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and anytime by giving a family history gift (including the best gift of sharing your time) to those you love. Find suggestions in 5 Ways to Give the Gift of Family History, by Miryelle Resek. Check out the ideas in this blog post from The Family History Guide, and in this blog post.

I4-14: Three-Word Journal
Randal Wright feels that everything in life can teach us lessons. So he came up with a simple strategy to make things easier: carry a notebook with you everywhere and record important moments in three word blurbs that brings them easily to mind. Later when you have more time, elaborate on those three words. Here are some tips for writing your own three word personal histories:

• Use specific words, such as a person, place, or thing in your title. Say 'Jane Dress Fiasco' rather than 'I Didn't Think,' which could imply endless situations.
• Use key words that will jog your memory of the event.
• Spend 30 minutes or less writing down each memory and the lesson(s) learned. Always ask yourself, "What can I learn from this event?"

See also: How One Man Writes His Personal History--Three Words at a Time

Find more activities here: 1. Anytime Activities   2. Plan-Ahead Activities   3. Making Family History   5. Social Media Activities   6. Service Activities   7. Activities for Research   8. Latter-day Saint Activities