Kick-Ass Genealogy

The photo to the left is an Aztec Calendar at the Anthropology Museum in Mexico City by k6mmc, used under Creative Commons License.

Calendars that include important dates from family history can make an amazing impression on your non-genealogist relatives…or they can be an ugly, time-and-effort-intensive flop. This article will go over the pros and cons of making a family calendar, explain the various decisions you will have to make, and outline how to create one.

Should I Try Making a Family Calendar?

Family calendars can be a great, non-scary way to introduce your “normal” relatives to their genealogy. Calendars and daytimers are a useful product for anyone to own, and they are used on a daily basis. This almost guarantees that some fo the family history will seep into their minds, even if unconsciously. And creating a calendar will definitely hone your riting and design skills!

On the other hand, custom calendars can be quite time-intensive. Without specialized software, you have to start almost from scratch each year. Custom calendars also require an investment of effort. Chances are good you will have to learn more about your word processing, spreadsheet, graphics, or genealogy software in order to product a decent product.

If you already have a high level of skill in these programs, or would like to learn them anyway, a family history calendar can be a great way to gain those skills. If you just want to get one out with a minimum of effort, however, you are probably going to want a specific program written just to make calendar software. This will cost a bit of money and you have to work within the program’s specifications, but if convenience is a concern, it’s probably the best way to go.

Should I Do It Myself or Use a Software Package?

Doing it yourself involves using programs you probably already own — MS Office/Open Office or Photoshop or similar graphics editing/design software. There are a few benefits to doing it yourself:

• You don’t have to shell out extra money — you already own all the software needed.
• You can get near total control over the final product.
• If you are already proficient in the programs, it won’t require a huge time investment to learn more.

However, there are also some drawbacks:

• You are limited by what the program is capable of.
• Replicating some effects that specialized software is designed for could be a real time and energy sink.
• If you’re not that proficient with the software, you do still have to learn a fair amount.

If you go with a software package — either using/creating a report built into your genealogy software, repurposing custom calendar generator programs, or finding something built specifically to make genealogy calendars — you have a different set of variables to consider. Because the software is designed for your purpose, you won’t have to fight to make the program do what you want. However, it will likely cost you some money, and you still have to learn a brand new program and work within its limitations. Not all pieces of software offer the level of customization you might want, and demos/trials can be hard to come by.

Once you’ve decided whether to use DIY software or purpose-specific programs, you’re ready to actually make your calendar.

How to Design and Create the Calendar

1. Decide Scope of Project and Extract Data

Decide what branch of the family will be included, what event types you’re going to include, and if you’re going to have breakaway notes, anecdotes, etc. Then, extract all relevant information from your genealogy software or your informatin storage system.

2. Decide the Calendar’s Format and Create the Basic Layout

Will you be printing this at home, or will you take it to a store or other service? The former option pretty much limits you to stuff that will fit on 8.5 x 11 paper; the latter lets you get fancy with various bindings and sizes.

You also need to consider the calendar itself: monthly, weekly, daily? Usefulness to the recipient and cost considerations come into play here.

After that, use your chosen software to create the basic calendar layout. Format everything correctly, using placeholder text where necessary. Then, refine it — add any background images, set the colours and transparency levels, any icons you’ll be using, etc. etc. Get it looking right so that all you have to is add the real text. If you need help, try googling “[software] calendar” to find some good tutorials.

Then, save your work so that you can adjust or reuse the template later.

3. Add the Content

Take the information you gleaned in step 1 and replace the dummy text from step 2 with it. Make any additional tweaks necessary, although by this point there are hopefully only minor formatting issues.

Save your work as you go, making sure that you do NOT save on top of your original file — you want to be able to reuse or alter your master template later if desired.

4. Edit and Produce the Calendar

Once you have set everything up, go into whatever preview/overview/thumbnail mode is available and make sure everything looks good from there. Then, let the project sit for a few days before reviewing it. Do a full edit to make sure all the info is factually correct, there are no typos, and so on.

After that, print and bind the calendar using your chosen method (self-printing or print shop/service). Distribute calendars to recipients at appropriate times and watch them learn more about their family history without even trying.

Conclusion

This article has given you a high level overview of the process required to make a family history calendar. If you have made this project before, I would love to hear how you did it in the comments — the programs you used, the time and effort involved, and your family’s reaction to it.

Samples

• My meager offering. To give you a sense of the possibilities, this took one hour with Photoshop, including sorting through old family photos.
• A nice, clean style. Simple but elegant.
• Buttons! Stitching explanatory text on would be a pain; I suspect there are print-on-fabric techniques you could use to mitigate this. This would definitely be a one-of-a-kind gift and conversation piece!
• Lego calendar. This has no real family history application; I just like Lego.
• Dodecahedral calendar. For all the gaming nerds out there, represent! Plus it would look totally awesome in my office. You could put pictures of family members as a faded background image, or shrink the calendar itself down and put pics and a smidgen o’ text off to the side or bottom.

Related Reading

• Why You Should Consider Digital Scrapbooking. The skillset I used to make this calendar is identical to that I learned to do digi-scrapping.
• Writing About Heirlooms. An important part of our history that we often inadvertently neglect.
• Creating an Individual Timeline. A wonderful research tool that also functions as a great presentation format.