“The Internet’s premier printer of Personal and Family Histories”

 

The following is a very simple outline of the eleven most common steps for assembling a personal or family history:

Phase 1: Researching the history

A) Interviewing (oral history): Many histories begin when someone decides that Grandma or Grandpa are not going to live forever, and once they are gone, so is the access to a wealth of information about one's immediate ancestry. Begin by taking along a tape recorder the next time you visit your living ancestors. Place it in an inconspicuous place and then begin asking questions: What was growing up like for you? What are your earliest memories? What did you love to have for dessert as a child? How did you meet and marry your spouse? Remember that their answers will depend to some extent on the quality of your questions, so you might want to write them out and practice before hand.

B) Historical research: This often the most daunting part of developing a family history, but know that help is always available. If you seek information in a library, the librarian is always willing to offer what help he or she can. We advise you to consult some good online resources for research, such as Ancestry.com or FamilySearch.org.

C) Transcribing oral histories: Once you have recorded the recollections of your living ancestors and others, only part of the task is done. The tapes must next be transcribed and cleaned up. You might consider either using a transcription service or investing in a simple transcription device. It will be well worth the price if you are not a lightning fast typist or make an occasional error. A good copy editor who is accustomed to such work can often be a tremendous investment to clean up the transcript while preserving the author's distinct style.

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Phase 2: Creating the history

A) Word processing: Closely associated with transcribing the tapes is the notion of word processing. While there are many products available that will handle your basic text needs, we recommend using an industry standard such as Corel's WordPerfect or Microsoft's Word. Such standards make converting the files for page composition much smoother and less likely to incur accidental error in the conversion process.

B) Editing: This is a step too often overlooked by many family historians. A qualified editor can often make a tremendous difference in how polished and readable your printed history is. We recommend at least a good proofreading to remove potentially embarrassing typos and to ensure consistency in style and presentation.

C) Selecting and processing visuals for printing: The old adage of a picture being worth a thousand words contains much truth. After you have selected the visuals that you want to include in your history, scan them into a standard electronic format such as jpeg, bitmap, or even pdf. Preserving these materials in electronic format not only makes the printing much easier, it significantly reduces the chance of losing or damaging your originals. If you do not have a scanner yourself, and the prices have recently dropped dramatically on lower end models, try to locate a friend or relative who does have a scanner and will do the work for you. If you have a photograph that will require touching up, you should probably consult a professional graphic artist for such work. The results are nearly always worth the investment.

D) Selecting and preparing mementos for printing: Letters, important certificates, wills, and other important documents can be scanned and saved in the same way as a picture. Again, preserving and working with these documents electronically will help protect your originals against damage or loss and will lower the cost of preparing them for printing.

E) Preparing press-ready text (layout design, font, layout, visuals, etc) on appropriate media: Because we publish a high volume of books at Sheridan Publishing, it is important that you submit your book in a format that we can accept. Your first decision will be whether you design your book or you choose one of our design templates.

1. If you design your book or have someone else design it for you, please make sure that it will fit a page size that we offer. You will need to send us a clean printout of that designed book.

 

2. If you want us to design your book, choose from the options found on our sample page and make a note of it for your ordering.

You will need only to fill out the order form completely so we know how to create your book.

You will need to send us your book in an electronic format according to the following instructions:

a. Word processing files must be in either Word or WordPerfect.

b. Tables created in your word processor will not transfer into our book production programs. Neither will lines, boxes, and other special design items.

c. Send the files on 3.5" floppy discs, Zip disks, Jaz disks, or CDs. Please do not send us your only files. Always make sure you keep a copy for yourself.

d. Photos are placed in a photo section rather than placed throughout the book. If your file contains both text and photos, the photos will be removed and saved as separate images for placement in the photo section.

e. Although we can place a color image on your book cover, only black-and-white images can be printed inside the book. If you send color images, they will be converted to grayscale images.

f. If you send us images to scan, please send copies only. We are not responsible for returning originals to you, nor can we guarantee that originals will not be damaged in our production process. Please keep all originals in a safe place and send only copies.

g. Photo files are prefered in a tiff format, but bitmap, gif, jpeg, or other standard format will be accepted.

 

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Last Update: Friday, October 26, 2001 5:45 PM