How to create a family archive for the next generation

1. Collect material.

Photos, letters, postcards, stories, invitations, maps, newspaper clippings and heirlooms will bring your archive to life.

2. Find a website that allows you to link your material to a person in your family tree.

I can recommend https://weare.xyz/

3. Add the material that you've found to each person or family. Tell their stories!

   
   

4. Writing about each person in your tree encourages you to look for more documents, photos and sources. You notice where the gaps are, and you also learn as you go, so you have a better idea of the kind of information that's out there and where to find it.

5. Share your archive with your children, grandchildren and other family members. They will be the ones who will keep this going in the future.

6. Add your own stories and reminiscences about your childhood.

7. Throw in all of the tantalising family mysteries you haven't managed to solve yet - something might come along later that will help your descendants crack the case!

I have been working on my archive for a while now. I have been writing about all of my direct ancestors, all of my Feinstein relations, and all the people in the family who were killed in the Holocaust. I have also been transcribing family letters and wills, and these will be in a part of the archive that is private (although the rest of the archive is public - I want people to find it and share what they know!).