LDS Family History Library Donation Policy

Gifts of family genealogies, organized collections and other records that contain genealogical information are welcome. You can even write a history of your family and place a copy in the library. Please use the authorized gift form when making a donation. Contact the Genealogical Society of Utah on the fifth floor of the Church Office Building (801-538-2978) for more information on the types of materials the library can accept and how to prepare your materials.

For more details, see Donations to the Family History Library.

Collection of Funeral Programs Saving Memories

Vincent T. Davis put together a great article for the San Antonio Express-News about a project involving more than 614 funeral programs, dating from the 1940s to the present, that were preserved in the Texana Room at the San Antonio Public Library. "If you don't have any history, then you don't have anything to build on."

If you stumble across an interesting collection, contact your local library to see if they're interested in preserving local history.

The Value of Old Documents

You'll see me mention the phrases "genealogical" and "family history" value often on this blog, so I thought it would be appropriate to explain the subtle differences. There's a third phrase that I think we're all familiar with, "sentimental" value.

When you find that old "shoebox" in your closet, or your parents, it will be filled with items of different values. And when I'm talking about value, it's not in dollars.

If an item has vital statistics on it or relationship information, then it has genealogical value. An old drivers license may show the date of birth. An old newspaper clipping may list a child's parents. And then there are the obvious documents: birth, marriage and death certificates. But my point is that ANY document with this kind of core information has genealogical value.

Your family tree will identify all of the people you are related to, along with their core information (birth/marriage/death) and their relationships to other people (parent/child). But going beyond the basic genealogy is what I refer to as "family history". What activities filled the lives of the people on your tree? Their education, employment, community involvement, and military service are just a few examples of family historical information.

If you find an item in that mentions a person's name, a date and a place, it has family history value. Things like member lists from clubs and societies, yearbooks, magazines and newsletters from employers, military and Masonic rosters, all offer clues into a person's life. That's family history value.

An item may possess these "values", but be of no use to you -- either you don't know the people mentioned or you're not interested. But, other researchers may be very interested. You may have a item that mentions other individuals in a Lodge or Cavalry unit.

As you approach that trash can with a pile of documents, think about their value before discarding them. Not sure who to give them to? Don't worry, that's what this blog is all about.

Detailed diary offers invaluable insight

Here's an article from the The Clarion Ledger about The Diary of David Gavin. Families mentioned in the pages are: Aberly (Averly), Appleby, Canaday, Clayton, Firman (Furman), Horn, Hughs (Hughes), Huger, Inabinet, Koger, Moorer, Muckenfuss, Murray, Myers, Pye, Rowe, Rumph, Shuler, Sistrunk, Utsey and West. The article reminds us that "Journal keepers are one of the biggest blessings you can find in your family research."

Coincidently this week, one of our writers, Ruby Coleman, submitted an article, Ancestral Memoirs, on how to locate letters, diaries or journals that contain first hand accounts!

Introduction

Welcome to Save Our Genealogy, a new blog launched with the mission to raise awareness regarding the significant role that historical documents play in family history. Most people don't realize that tucked away in that shoebox in the closet are documents that catalog the lives of their ancestors.

The goal of this project is to encourage people to carefully preserve these documents, share them with other researchers and provide them with information needed to donate them to one of several genealogical archives in the United States. And by all means to prevent these items from being discarded with the weekly trash pickup.