Start With You!

 Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We have to apologize that we did not post to the family history blog last week.  Time just got away from us.  However, we have an activity that your family can do this summer to continue on your family history path. 

Did you know?

v  Family history is one of the most popular hobbies in the United States?

v  People want to know more about their family heritage

v  Many individuals do not know where to begin

This activity may help you begin and it comes from some suggestions given to us by Brother Cheatwood.  He received them while serving a mission and we thought you might enjoy them.    

When I was in Young Women's (it was called MIA then), we had a program called Treasures of Truth.  We were given binders with pretty pink flowers on the covers and a set of dividers with the titles of: My Story, My Kin, My Hobbies, My Friends and Sacred to Me.  The idea was that we would keep a Book of Remembrance on our life and the things that meant the most to us.  Mine was partially destroyed by a flood when a water pipe broke in our home, but I am slowly putting it back together again and updating my story.

The information given to us by Brother Cheatwood has an activity for family members that follows the Treasures of Truth program.  It is called a Book of Remembrance and is a great activity for all family members, no matter the age.  It can be done at any time and especially when the weather is hot outside in the summer……  just stay indoors and gather your story together!

When speaking about family history, Boyd K. Packer said, “If you don’t know where to start, start with yourself.  If you  don’t know what records to get, and how to get them, start with what you have.”

So how do we put a Book of Remembrance together? Start with collecting the following:

ü  Birth Certificate (you can use a copy so your original can be kept in a safe fire-proof location)

ü  Diplomas and graduation certificates

ü  Photographs

ü  Honors and awards

ü  Diary or Journal

ü  Anything that is written or recorded

Don’t try to do it all in one day.  Look in the garage, attic, basement, drawers, stored boxes, etc.  This can seem like an overwhelming process but with each item you are collecting you are getting closer to completing your Book of Remembrance.

Now what?  Here are the suggestions from Brother Cheatwood’s mission notes:

1.        Get three boxes and label them Child, Youth and Adult.  Place the item in the appropriate box as you gather it

2.       When you have gathered all the items, take one of the boxes and spread the contents out on a table.  Put them back in the box in chronological order.  Repeat with the other boxes.

3.       Go back to the first box and pull out the first item.  Begin writing (or recording) your story. (“I was born…… and was the ___ rd child of _____ born to _______ and ______”).  Continue with your story as you pull out additional items from your box. 

4.   Lightly glue the items to your album pages and write on the page what the item is and a date.  Viola!  Your Book of Remembrance is begun!

5.   When you have your book up to date, set a date on the calendar for 6 months from now or a year from now, to update it.  Keeping it up to date will only take a short period of time. 

I  have been working on my personal history for more than 55 years.  Here are a couple of tips that I found helped me.  Maybe they can help you too.  

1.        Inside your boxes use large manilla envelopes.  Seal them, then cut the long edge off so they are now like file folders and can hold your documents/photographs without the items falling out.  Put a year in permanent marker at the top so you can see it easily.  Place the items that occurred that year in the folder.  This was an easier way for me to sort the items out and helped me write my story chronologically.  If you do not know the date of an item, place it at the front of the box in a folder marked “Unsure of date”.  As you write your story, the approximate date may come to your memory or other items may spark a memory that can help.

2.       Keep a pad of paper close by.  AS you gather items, certain ideas, thoughts, memories may come to mind. Write down the thoughts quickly and place the paper with the item in the folder.  For example, a comment someone made when you graduated high school may come to your mind or you may remember a gift that you received.  You may want to include it in your story.  Write it down and put it with your diploma. When you get to that part of your story, you can then add it, or decide not to use it and toss the paper away.

Albums – There are many commercially prepared albums suitable for your book where you can glue everything in, including your written story --- or you can use a binder.  I personally like binders – the ones with the clear pocket covers so I can design my own cover and add it to the front.  I also add my own spine strip.

If using a binder, use card stock for mounting your photos and documents.  When I started my books oh so many years ago, I typed the story on typing paper and mounted all my photos on the same paper.  It isn’t archival safe.  It has lasted well enough but card stock is a much better choice.  Use an archival safe tape or adhesive as well.  This will keep your photos and documents from getting nasty yellow splotches where the adhesive touches them as they age.

I also use plastic page protectors in my Book of Remembrance.  This is an added expense, and takes up more space in the binder, and is certainly not required, but I think it helps keep the pages cleaner and protected.  Just a little quirky idea that I use……  😉

Simple or fancy?  The choice is yours.    Mount your photos and documents in a simple fashion or add stickers, drawings and other items to make it reflect your story and personality.  I try to ensure all embellishments (stickers, awards, etc) are flat or fairly flat without buttons, brads, or other 3 dimensional parts . That way when the album is closed, my embellishments won’t make indentations on other pages in the album.  There is nothing worse than opening the album and finding a huge “dimple” in the middle of Aunt Vivian’s face from a 3-dimensional embellishment a few pages away!

Whatever style of book you choose, or however you decide to create your story, written or recorded, you are fulfilling prophesy.  Malachi told us in the Old Testament that Elijah the prophet would return and that he would “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers…” (Malachi 4:6).  You are assisting in the gathering of Israel and are filling a desire in each of us told of by Alex Haley when he said, “In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage – to know who we are and where we have come from.  Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning.”

May you enjoy the gathering of information and the creating of your Book of Remembrance – not only as a summer activity, but as a treasure to pass on to your posterity.  Let us know if we can help!  Brother and Sister May