WHAT DO YOU HAVE PACKED IN YOUR ‘KIT BAG’?
GENEALOGY GADGETS & APPS FOR ALL OCCASIONS!
What tools do you use to help your genealogy life run more smoothly? In this new series Helen Tovey will investigate some of the software & hardware that’s out there to help you research your family history more efficiently and enjoyably
Helen Tovey
Family histories have been cherished for millennia. For instance Confucius’s genealogy, created originally by hand and first printed in 1040 (presumably using the newly invented ceramic characters) to record the descendants of the Chinese sage Kong Qiu, who died 479BC.
Or the Icelandic Íslendingasögur written in ink in the 13th and 14th centuries, and our family histories too, closer in time, enlisting copious notebooks, scraps of paper and scrolls of wallpaper to make a record of our research and to note the names and dates etc of our relations.
Little changed from century, to century there are numerous merits to these analogue ways of recording, yet there’s also a lot to be said for tech too.
In this new series in Family Tree, over the coming months we will be looking at some of the many ways in which digital aids can transform our research processes. We’ll be looking at the must-have technology items for the family historian, and exploring some of the newer and just “nice to have ones” too. As ever, we would be very interested to learn your views on the matter, and to hear about the tools you use; we will include mention of as many reader recommendations as possible and for those that we showcase we will pay £30.
BRANCHING OUT
Starting out with a new bit of kit does usually involve a learning curve.
• Most of the resources listed below do provide free versions or trials, meaning that you can experiment to see which suit you best without parting with any pennies.
• To make your life easier, consider perhaps using the same software as a friend or research buddy, so that you can compare notes and help one another.