I think that I’ve come up with a workable (for me) scheme
for naming document files, and another one for photo files. But there a still a
couple of unresolved questions. Please comment.
I know I can’t have considered everything.
Document Files = Date_Who_What
Date
|
YYYY_MM_DD A lower case x will substitute for unknown
entries: 195x_xx_xx
|
Who
|
Surname-first name; or just family name
|
What
|
Type of record: Birth, Baptism, Marriage, Census, Deed,
etc.
|
Here’s an example: A
copy of the church record of baptism from an LDS microfilm.
File name: 1841_11_14_Dachtera-Andreas_Baptism.jpg
The LDS film number is in the file
metadata.
The idea is that the file list will
sort itself first on date, then on name, but I haven’t gotten far enough to see
what happens when there are Xs in the date. I suppose that a year of 184x will
be listed after those with 1849 as the year.
While this seems that it will do
the job, it seems just too simple. Have
I forgotten something???
Photo naming gets a little more complex
Date_Who_What-Description(description
optional)_ Generation
Date
|
YYYY_MM_DD A lower case x will substitute for unknown
entries: 195x_xx_xx
|
Who
|
Surname-First name; or just Family name plus additional
information where appropriate
|
What
|
Type of photo i.e. snapshot or portrait
Optional description can include the event
|
Generation
|
Gx where x = the generation number.
|
Generation is one of the things I’ve wrestled with. Here’s what I came up with.
Generation
Zero (Z) = me and my siblings,
first cousins, etc.
1 = my parents and their siblings,
etc,
2 = grandparents
3 = great grandparents
Z1 = my children
Z2 = my grandchildren
Z3 = my great grandchildren
M = a photo with more than two generations.
A couple of examples:
File name:
191x_xx_xx_Dachtera-Stanley-kids_snap_g2-1
This tells me that it is a snapshot of my grandfather with
kids, and that the primary person is generation 2 but it also includes
generation 1 people.
Identifying the photo with Stanley ’s
name is my choice for my reasons. It could well have been
“Dachtera-Johanna-sibs-dad”
File name: 1920_05_04_Dachtera-Supinski_port-wed_g1
I’m not sure how I should identify married women.
Use the married name?
In terms of one aspect of “future proofing” succeeding generations are
more likely to know only the married name and may be looking at photo files
independently of genealogy data files.
Use both maiden and married names? This may be the best
solution, but would I identify the bride above as “Supinski-Johanna-Dachtera”
or some other combination?
I’ve tried to keep this as simple as possible but maybe I’m
missing something important. I’ll resume
scanning photos and see where I run into snags.
Any suggestions for improvement will be welcome.
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