Memory Trees begins with suggestions for choosing the design of your family tree, using purely aesthetic considerations or one or more subject themes (births, careers, homes, geography, pets, cars, vacations, etc.) that are important to a particular family. With a design in mind and one of Tony’s layouts selected, the scrapbooker (a term meaning someone who makes scrapbooks) can choose from a myriad of beautiful papers, borders, stickers, stencils, clip-art, stamps, etc., etc. that are readily available. Matthews provides oodles of suggestions for embellishing the basic design, adding photographs of varying shapes and sizes, filling in names and dates, and generally putting a personal touch to the family tree. Tony has laid out each tree so that it can be enlarged to fit within a 10″ x 10″ border, the size most commonly used for scrapbook albums The layouts themselves range from hearts and flowers to shields and insects, from toys to crosses, and from landscapes to elephants. The creator can complete some of the trees from the outside in and others from the inside out. There’s a collection of borders to choose from, and many of the designs are suitable for child scrapbookers. In short, if your scrapbook is lacking a family tree, you’ll find that Memory Trees is an easy, convenient, and FUN tool for adding one.

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At one time or another everyone needs copies of birth, marriage, civil union, divorce, death, or pre-adoption certificates for driver’s licenses, passports, jobs, Social Security, family history research, school enrollment, proof of citizenship, or simple proof of identity. But the fact is that the requirements and fees needed to obtain copies of vital records vary from state to state and from country to country, often requiring tedious research and wading through confusing websites of large agencies before the appropriate forms can be obtained and the correct procedures followed. The International Vital Records Handbook will put an end to all that, as it offers complete, up-to-date information on where and how to request vital records. It also includes copies of the application forms, where available, thus simplifying and speeding up the process by which vital records are obtained, regardless of the number or type of application forms required.

This edition contains

• the latest application forms and ordering information for each of the fifty states and, where available, for the other countries of the world;
• details about records that were created prior to statewide vital records registration;
• information on which records are restricted and for how long, and whether “informational” or uncertified copies of records are available to genealogy researchers;
• locations of vital records collections, online databases, and institutions of interest to genealogy researchers;
• adoption search contact information and, where available, pre-adoption birth record and adoption search applications;
• key addresses of repositories or embassies that might help you obtain copies of vital records in countries where neither a centralized vital records registration system nor a vital records application form is available.

Locating vital records and navigating your way through the various privacy laws and storage facilities can be difficult. The International Vital Records Handbook will make the process immeasurably easier.

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The first section of the book covers the three basic types of the projects–pedigrees, lineages, and descendancies. The second section tells how to organize notes and keep paperwork to a minimum, while the third section shows the various methods of cross-referencing notes for purposes of retrieval and evaluation. Section four describes ahnentafel numbering, and section five descendancy numbering and the merits of the three main numbering systems–the Register, Record, and Henry systems–plus Dollarhide’s own combined Ahnentafel/Henry numbering system. Then there is a section on the applications of computer software to the project and a section on diagramming techniques and methods of presenting a pedigree or descendancy in polished form. Finally there is a set of nine master forms to be used in this work, and they can be easily photocopied and used as often as needed.

Updated in 1999, this edition of Managing a Genealogical Project features new material on computer software and CD databases.

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Filled in by hand, calligraphy, or type, and hand-colored in pen or paint, each of these family trees is guaranteed to be unique, and each illustration–whether elegant, whimsical, or just plain folksy–is a joyful celebration of your family. Uses for it are limited only by your imagination.

You can photo-reduce the family trees for use as note cards and stationery, or you can enlarge them to show family detail at its optimum. Remember that each of these family trees is an ancestral tree. The tree starts with you, and each generation back doubles in size, showing two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, etc.

You’ll have a great time with these illustrations, and you can pass them on finished or unfinished, to be treasured as keepsakes or to be embellished and completed by others.

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Throughout the volume, Mr. Matthews offers numerous suggestions and witticisms for how to make a family tree uniquely your own. You will learn where to find borders, public domain clip-art, and unusual motifs. Nor does Treets limit itself to pen and paper designs; instead, Mr. Matthews has suggestions for people considering putting their genealogies onto quilts or wood. In short, whether or not you’ve used previous collections of family trees, you are bound to enjoy Treets.

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In his previous book, Paper Trees: Genealogical Clip-art, available from Genealogical Publishing Company, graphic artist Tony Matthews produced a unique collection of hand-drawn family trees and charts which family historians can use to fill in and color for themselves. Creativitree, a kind of sequel to Paper Trees, takes the artistically minded behind the scenes to reveal how Tony Matthews designed some of his family tree art and, more importantly, how you can create family tree designs that have meaning for you and your family.

Written in the author’s unique folksy style, Creativitree leads you painlessly from a blank page to a complex (or simple) family tree design of your own choosing. Tony clues you in on what kind of paper to use, what pens and markers you’ll need, and any other supplies that go into creating a frameable family tree. Soon you will be experimenting with all manner of rectangles, curves, flowers, birds, butterflies, trucks, computers-you name it-samples of which are right in the book. You’ll be gently guided over the mathematics of multiple generations as you space out a diagram. Leaving nothing to chance, the author discusses the merits of handwriting versus printing out the names of your family members. In fact, once you get the hang of it, you may find yourself reproducing your tree on a coffee mug or tee shirt, sending the design over the Internet, or printing genealogy Christmas cards.

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