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| LIFE IN SOLERA | OCTOBER 2022 | 27 To Keep or Not To Keep As many of you know, the more you build your family tree the more you acquire or save things associated with the building of your tree or that back-up persons in your tree. An article in the latest edition of the Family Tree Magazine outlined some of the areas to review to avoid accumulating a lot of unwanted back-up paperwork, photos, heirlooms, etc. that have accumulated as a result of your tree building efforts. The article outlines steps to determine what to keep or not. The first step is to decide what you want to accomplish with your organizing efforts. This could be cutting down on back- up paperwork, organizing photos, reviewing digital files, newspaper clippings, bridal or baby books, genealogy or history books, military paraphernalia or paperwork, and even furniture, clothing or china/ glassware that has historical or familial worth. The second step is to evaluate what is important or not for a given item or file. For example, do you need to keep a hard copy printed back-up copy for data that is online or already digitized. Ask yourself the following; is it irreplaceable, is there a digital version of that hard copy, who will inherit your genealogy work and back-up and do they want it, what is its practical value, is it worth money or is it only of sentimental or research value. Remember that some items can be scanned and digitized to make it easier to keep. Ask yourself if you need to keep the last several versions of your tree that you put out in digital GEDCOM file format. Much of the data found in digital online genealogy data bases can be stored digitally either on some family tree program that you have your tree on or offline via a digital storage medium. So, take a look at what all you have collected in support of building your family tree and determine what you may need to do to clean up or simplify your items associated with your tree or used to build your tree. I did this and got rid of nine plastic storage bins of back-up paperwork. ~ Bill Cramsie ANCESTRY GROUP At our September meeting, Mike Ryan gave an interesting talk on the geologic formation of the area of Joshua Tree National Park. On Oct. 3 Richard Crowe will speak to a very different topic on Joshua Tree National Park: the 1943 killing of Worth Bagley by his neighbor, Bill Keys. Some of you who scout the area of Joshua Tree NP may have visited Keys' home, the Desert Queen Ranch. HISTORY GROUP

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