I
am reaching the final pages of my book & hoping they will be as interesting
as the first pages. Of course, there will be a Bibliography & an Index
which will be vital but not exactly intriguing.
What to Include in the Appendix?
I
am scanning original documents, certificates & letters to include. Most of
these items have been kept in our family for generations. Some of them are
scans of originals that belong to distant cousins or were found in archives.
I
especially like the letters. I am the holder of the originals. I like seeing
the actual handwriting of my family, like my maternal grandfather who died long
before I was born. I like holding the papers they held. [Of course, I do not
handle them often. They are in archival sleeves.] The occasional misspellings and
cross outs make my ancestors come alive. In one letter my grandfather switches
from a pen to a pencil because the ink runs out of his pen. I would like to
include all the letters but there are quite a few & although it would help
to preserve them I’m not sure folks would like to read them all.
 |
| 1927. Autograph book page. Written by my maternal grandmother to her sister. |
This
is still in progress. So far I am including these items:
Appendix
o
Daniel
Mullane business card, date unknown
o
1841 Marriage record for Thomas Brady &
Catherine Gibney
o
1878
Marriage record for Leopold Gartner
& Fannie Edelstein
o
1888
Citizenship Application for Leopold
Gartner
o
1894 Citizenship papers for Michael Coyle
o
1895 Marriage certificate for Michael Coyle &
Mary Mullane
o
1897 Birth Certificate for Helen ‘Nellie’ Coyle
o
1921 Marriage certificate for Nathaniel Gardner
& Helen Coyle
o
1922 Letter from Nathaniel Gardner to his wife,
Helen (Coyle) Gardner
o
1926 Letter from Helen (Coyle) Gardner to her
husband, Nathaniel
o
1927 Duplicate Receipt for 1899 Burial Plot of Frances
Coyle in St. Raymond’s cemetery
o
1927 Pages from Lillian A. Coyle’s Autograph book
o
1927 Receipt from undertaker for Burial of Mary J
(Mullane) Coyle
o
1928 Letter from Timothy Mullane to Helen (Coyle)
Gardner
o
1928 Certificates of birth & baptism for
Alberta Joy (Gardner) Brown
o
1930
Poem written by Thomas Coyle for his sister,
Kathleen G. Coyle
o
1931 Marriage certificate for James J McCall &
Mary Coyle
o
1934
Driver’s License & other items
belonging to Nathaniel Gardner
o
1936 Letter from Nathaniel Gardner to his
daughter, Alberta Joy
o
1940 Letter from Alberta Joy Gardner to her father
o
1940 Note concerning the birth of Nathaniel
Gardner
o
1944 Letter written by Helen (Coyle) Gardner
o
1948 Invitation to wedding of Alberta Joy Gardner
& Delbert K. Brown
I am
considering including a couple recipes from my mother but I am not sure if
those would belong with the documents [They are not hand written.] & I’m not sure there are enough to make a separate
section. Another decision I have to make. If I include them where should they go?
What about our family 'treasures'? The cake plate used in my great grandfather's bakery, the tiny gold bracelet my great grandmother bought for my mother before she was born, the lace veil from my mother's First Communion, my grandfather's telegrapher's key,... I have photographed these items. Do the photos belong in the book? Where: in the chapters about the people they belonged to or in the Appendix or in another section altogether?
A practical consideration when considering what to include in the Appendix is the number of pages & the cost per page. At this time the book is 350+ pages. Of course, everything should be included to share with the greatest number of people but what it becomes too expensive to put into a great number of hands?
Have
you added an Appendix to your books?
What did you add?
Have you read a book
& wished something more was included? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
I have not done an Appendix but I would if I were including those dull documents (deeds, etc). Pictures of those treasures and heirlooms could go in sections devoted to that person. That would break up all the text and make the book more interesting to family who are not all that interested in the genealogy part. In the book I did about just my paternal grandparents, I divided the book into 2 parts, one devoted to each person. For my grandmother, I included photos of her blue glassware that I now have. For my grandfather, I included photos of his hunting dogs and fishing trips. Those photos bring the person to life better than lumping them at the back of the book. In my Jollett book, I had few photos period, so I included the scans of interesting documents as I wrote about them.
ReplyDeleteAnother idea would be to have a page listing all the illustrations and their page numbers.