Thanks for sharing your system! I'm thinking about doing something similar. My only issue is I would still like to separate out some of the items between current branches of my family (maybe by each grandparent's surname/maiden name) so I can easily show family members the items that belong to their side of the family more easily. Of course this may be annoying to future family members who need to combine that info back together again if they wanted to use my system of filing (lets hope someone will be interested!). Maybe this is just as easily accomplished by looking up in the index by surname and flipping to the appropriate page in the binder. I really like the simplicity of your system. I'm wondering if there is an easy way for me to integrate the index data into my family tree maker program and/or a database so I can quickly pull up lists of exactly what I'm looking for. For example, using a database program I develop in Access or another program, I could label each item by binder & page number as you have done, but then also assign various "tags" to the data. ex. surnames, family tree maker id# of individuals, type of item (ex. book, marriage certificate, letter, etc.). I haven't really looked into how this might integrate with family tree maker. Maybe I wouldn't need it to because I could use the database to look up their name directly. The only other issue is if I could easily use a reference to my filing system in the sources/references section of each individual in the family tree maker program. Ok, hope I haven't rambled too much. It helped me straighten out my thoughts on how to go about this. You have been very helpful!

For storing large/defecate items like books do you have any info on properly storing and preserving them? From what I know of documents and photos they are best stored in specific types of polypropylene plastic sheets, but I don't really know about large old books/bibles, photo albums where the album itself is an heirloom (I don't really want to take all of the photos out of it, but maybe they would be preserved better!), old family watches, hair cuttings, and lots more. I know it's a rather large and diverse list, but I thought you might know where I can learn about preserving all of these things.

Thanks so much,
Courtenay