Journey with me back to the architectural heyday of Chicago at the turn of the century, as I track the indelible influence of builder Victor Falkenau—my great-grandfather—on the city’s growth
I hope you are keeping a diary of the process of your research, in addition to the fascinating story you are uncovering of your great grandfather's life! I would love to know, for example, how you are keeping all of your records/photos/notes organized. I am committed to getting my family photos/documents organized in 2025.
Thank you for your reading and questions. I wish I had an insightful and practical answer for you. Had I had any idea of what my initial foray would turn into, I would have organized myself differently from the beginning. Three years ago, I bought a program called Scrivener to help me organized chapters, research information, ideas, chapter titles and contents, etc. However, my 350 pages of Word document notes were already in some sort of order but now that I have 500 pages it's becoming more and more difficult to find things. For example, I found the other day a key piece of information for one of the chapters that I had forgotten. Gads, how many other things like that have occurred?
I hope to take a week sometime in the near future to learn the Scrivener program and put all the info in a more organized fashion.
In the meantime, I have the 500 +pages of notes in Word. I also have folders for each individual. I have files by year for the main characters. In there, I've stored newspapers articles, census records, death records, wills, etc. I have folders for large categories like Chicago, Altadena, tuberculosis, in which I have various subcategories.
This works but I spend an awful lot of time searching for facts in the Word document.
Depending on your needs, I'd find a program to help you organize and store docs and photos from the very beginning. I should have taken the extra time three years ago to do that.
Also, document all your sources of where you found things. I thought I'd remember but of course I don't. Fortunately, the frequency of my documentation has improved a lot over the years.
I look forward to hearing what you come up with and how your project is proceeding. Suerte!!
I hope you are keeping a diary of the process of your research, in addition to the fascinating story you are uncovering of your great grandfather's life! I would love to know, for example, how you are keeping all of your records/photos/notes organized. I am committed to getting my family photos/documents organized in 2025.
Thank you for your reading and questions. I wish I had an insightful and practical answer for you. Had I had any idea of what my initial foray would turn into, I would have organized myself differently from the beginning. Three years ago, I bought a program called Scrivener to help me organized chapters, research information, ideas, chapter titles and contents, etc. However, my 350 pages of Word document notes were already in some sort of order but now that I have 500 pages it's becoming more and more difficult to find things. For example, I found the other day a key piece of information for one of the chapters that I had forgotten. Gads, how many other things like that have occurred?
I hope to take a week sometime in the near future to learn the Scrivener program and put all the info in a more organized fashion.
In the meantime, I have the 500 +pages of notes in Word. I also have folders for each individual. I have files by year for the main characters. In there, I've stored newspapers articles, census records, death records, wills, etc. I have folders for large categories like Chicago, Altadena, tuberculosis, in which I have various subcategories.
This works but I spend an awful lot of time searching for facts in the Word document.
Depending on your needs, I'd find a program to help you organize and store docs and photos from the very beginning. I should have taken the extra time three years ago to do that.
Also, document all your sources of where you found things. I thought I'd remember but of course I don't. Fortunately, the frequency of my documentation has improved a lot over the years.
I look forward to hearing what you come up with and how your project is proceeding. Suerte!!
Thank you! That’s very helpful. I’ll let you know what I come up with!
I'm already hooked - what a fascinating story, and man! Looking forward to going on this journey with you.
Thank you so much!! That really means a lot me. My new vecina and writing pal!