When does one file a document as a "Personal Record"?
I recently stumbled upon a FamilySearch article called, "Choose a Record Type", at the following URL;
It looks like a filing system that I might consider using, but it seems to contain ambiguities that I need to resolve.
In the diagram, "Sources Useful to Genealogists", showing the filing of, "Original Genealogical Records", it has a category called, "Personal records of or about an individual" amongst other filing categories. I have many instances of "Original Records" in my family files; birth certificates, certificates from courses, legal adoption records, death certificates and so on. What determines when something is filed under "Personal" as opposed to another category, like "Vital Events" and Civil Action", that seem to address the same type of material?
Assistance in developing a "rule-of-thumb" for determining where to file something would be a great help.
Answers
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Are you talking about a paper or physical filing system? Or a digital filing system? I would say there is an overlap of logic.
If you look at how the link defined it, your personal copies of birth certs, course certs legal adoption records, death certs, do not qualify as personal documents according to their definition. You are confusing "personal copy of" with records that contain personal information about someone, such as diaries, journals, autobiographies, letters, photographs, etc.
I have plenty of these kids of things: a huge business ledger, several autograph books, lots of letters, copies of bible records, newspaper clippings, thousands of photos loose or in albums (really, that is my estimate), lots of scrap books, lots of genealogy papers from a couple of key relatives who did family history in the old days. All of these things contain very broad information and indirect information not only about multiple family members, but also distant family members as well as family friends. You really can't file them the same as a death certificate.
I can't say I have any organized filing system with physical copies. I'm bad. I can, however, say that I have gone to great lengths to organize digital images of all this stuff. And anything that is personal, according to the definition in your link, goes in a folder of its own. The only exception is letters. I file the images of letters under the family surname of the sender.
I don't know if that helps. That looks like an incredibly useful link you found.
There are 2 things missing from that list that I also keep: 1) research logs. For certain individuals or families or loose end projects, I am tracking my findings in a spreadsheet which links each fact to a source. I also have comments for each as to my interpretation of the facts and sources. 2) I am starting to build products which tell stories of ancestors. This is a work in progress and I am not satisfied with anything I've done yet, but I have used Google Earth, Power Point, Microsoft Sway and a [terrible] attempt at a blog to do this. All of the supporting facts and docs for these projects are copied into the project folders from the family or person's folder.
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I am trying to set up a computer filing system that can also be used for my physical records. This is because I digitized all my physical records to make them easier to catalog and to avoid unnecessary wear-and-tear on some of the more delicate artifacts.
I'm still a bitt "fuzzy" on how to clearly segregate the artifacts that I have. Is the definition of "Personal" more that one "owns" the original and irreplaceable source? This is based, in part, on note #5 at the bottom of the diagram, which makes it seem as if for personal records one owns some form of physical source. That is; for diaries, journals, autobiographies, letters, photographs, etc., one might actually own the irreplaceable source. If the original were lost, even a functional/legal equivalent could not be recreated from information on file. Government issued certificates, for example, can be re-issued, even diplomas can be re-issued. However; a diary or journal cannot, nor can memorial cards or personal correspondence. Photos seem to depend on who holds the original negative or digital image rights. So they could occur in personal and other categories.
Does that make sense?
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I would take the article as merely being a guide on how to arrange / classify your records. There are no "rules" whereby one type of material must be put under a specific heading. I'd say these charts are probably useful as a basis for organising your records, but you should do this to suit your own methods of working with the material you have accumulated.
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Thank you, everyone. I found the answer that FamilySearch gave wrt. "Personal". It's fairly different than what I had thought, but at least I can now review it properly and see what I want to do.
Take a look at the following URL:
https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Identify_a_Category_of_Sources
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