Certificate register

[Lesley Walker]

Hi all,
I've just picked up a whole pile of certificates from a late relative's archives, and I'm wondering what would be the best way to catalogue them. Is there any specific software out there for this purpose, or do most people just put them in a spreadsheet?

[mickg]

Lesley Walker wrote:

Hi all,
I've just picked up a whole pile of certificates from a late relative's archives, and I'm wondering what would be the best way to catalogue them. Is there any specific software out there for this purpose, or do most people just put them in a spreadsheet?

Since certificates are a document (piece of paper) could you clarify
what you mean. try as I might I've never managed to get anything but a
scan of a piece of paper into a computer.

Links to scans are OK in a spreadsheet but it's not the best way to
store actual document images, though many do have an insert image facility.

MickG

[Gjest]

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I meant: to record the details so that I
could, for instance, produce a list of the certificates I have and
email it to somebody. I realise it will mean a lot of data entry.

I will also be scanning them, as I wish to return the physical records
to safe storage with the rest of the archives, so a link to the scan
would be one of things I would record in the database.

Maybe there's a family tree program out there that can do that sort of
thing? I'm currently using Family Origins 10 and thinking of migrating
to Roots Magic.

Lesley.

[mickg]

[email protected] wrote:

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I meant: to record the details so that I
could, for instance, produce a list of the certificates I have and
email it to somebody. I realise it will mean a lot of data entry.

I will also be scanning them, as I wish to return the physical records
to safe storage with the rest of the archives, so a link to the scan
would be one of things I would record in the database.

Maybe there's a family tree program out there that can do that sort of
thing? I'm currently using Family Origins 10 and thinking of migrating
to Roots Magic.

Lesley.

Well there's plenty of options but I use word separating the entry

fields with tabs and then converting the entire list to a table for
alignment. You can always opt to have no borders on the table so it
looks good. You can then link cells in the table to the images with add
hyperlink.

MickG

[Lesley Walker]

Thanks for the input. How much information would you normally
transcribe from the certificates? For marriage certificates, would you
have separate fields for bride and groom, or use two rows?

[Chad Hanna]

In message <[email protected]>,
Lesley Walker <[email protected]> writes

Thanks for the input. How much information would you normally
transcribe from the certificates? For marriage certificates, would you
have separate fields for bride and groom, or use two rows?

Depends on what you're trying to achieve, but I would transcribe

everything including the name of the any witnesses and the officiating
minister (who might just be a relative). There is a strong case for
having a separate row for each person, with a field indicating the part
that person played in the event (e.g. bride's father). I am thinking of
English certificates, others will have more or less information. You
must have a unique id. for each certificate, and a unique id. for each
row means you can always sort back into the original order.
--
Chad Hanna
IT Manager Berkshire Family History Society http://www.berksfhs.org.uk
Systems Developer FamilyHistoryOnline http://www.familyhistoryonline.net
FreeBSD Apache MySQL Perl mod_perl

[Lesley Walker]

Helen, that sounds like an excellent idea - thanks! Although I'd be
inclined not to post certificates of people probably still living or
recently deceased, it should be good for all the others.

I'll check out AUSBDM immediately.

Lesley.
(Wellington, New Zealand)