Courtesy of A-Z 2026

I was not sure that I was going to take part in the A-Z Challenge this year, but suddenly found myself on the sign up page and thought as it was still possible to sign up that I would.

Over the years I have written about aims of surname studies, but this year I am going to share a more varied approach. 

Our research needs to account for something, that means that there should be some plan at least, do we want to have a website, write a book, write blog posts, inspire people, or perhaps a combination of all of those, otherwise, we might just as well not bother.

My aims are at this point about ensuring that I have a sound database of material, properly sourced, all my references cited and my to do list up to date and for it to be accessible. My surname projects, are destined for a website, that provides the opportunity for others to view and find something of use for their research.

My current plan remains to dispose of the volumes of paper once I have added the material to my database. As part of that I am having a restructure of my digital files, with those that relate to individuals filed using the number that is allocated as soon as that individual is added to my genealogical software. Whilst that does not sound remarkable, it is a such a basic concept that I actually had not thought of it. I gave it a test drive and feel fairly content. All I now need to do is be more productive during the day, then by the time I am 102 I might have dumped all the paper! I know that I am likely to talk about this filing structure during the month, complete with images…