One of the major issues facing genealogy researchers is how to effectively capture, save and use images of genealogy records that pertain to our ancestors.
Ancestry.com has made it very easy for researchers with an
www.Ancestry.com subscription to attach a link to record images to persons in an Ancestry.com Member Tree. However, there are two problems with this seductive and easy task:
1) The "attached" (really "linked") record images do not download to a family tree program, even to Ancestry.com's Family Tree Maker 2010.
2) If access to a record database is removed from the Ancestry.com website, then the "linked" record images are not available to users.
The latter instance is what has happened to thousands of Ancestry.com subscribers that "captured" images from the Drouin Collection of Quebec baptisms, marriages and burials - the database was recently removed from access by Ancestry.com as a result of a court order - see Lorine Schulze's blog post
Ancestry in arbitration over the Drouin Collection for details. Consequently, the "linked" images in Ancestry Member Trees disappeared from the user databases - because there were only links to the images, not saved images attached to persons (like family photos are uploaded and attached).
The latest versions of Family Tree Maker 2010 permit the subscribed user to download their Ancestry Member Tree from Ancestry.com, including all of the images and other media uploaded by the user, but not the record images "attached" ("linked") by the user to their tree directly from Ancestry.com databases. However, the subscribed user can upload a new Member Tree to Ancestry.com from within FTM 2010 that includes all images and media that the user attached to their FTM 2010 tree from files on their computer.
What should a genealogy researcher do in order to prevent "record image loss" due to either scenario? My "best practice" recommendations include:
1)
Download and save to your computer hard drive any record images that pertain to persons in your family tree. Doing this, you have "captured" the record. Print it out if you want to using your favorite image program, and be sure to note the source citation of the record image - both the original data source and the online data source. The software programs can capture images and sources from a Web Search, and can be used to do this task. Frankly, I find it easier to do the downloading and saving directly from the database provider into a file folder where I can name it and find it easily.
2)
Attach the saved record images to persons in your family tree program. The latest program versions (FTM 2009/2010, RootsMagic 4, Legacy 7, TMG 7) make this very easy to do. While you're at it, input the source information into the Source fields of the program. You'll be glad you did!
3)
Do not attach record images to persons in your Ancestry Member Tree directly from the Ancestry.com record databases - the links to these images (and therefore the images themselves) will disappear if you do not renew your Ancestry subscription or if the database is removed from Ancestry.com.
4)
Make all changes to your family tree in your genealogy software program on your computer, not in the Member Tree on Ancestry.com, if you do not have Family Tree Maker 2009/2010. If you use any other program, you can download only a GEDCOM from Ancestry.com that will not include the record images that you have attached to persons in your Ancestry Member Tree.
The major challenge for some researchers is to create and use an organized file folder system with a consistent file naming convention so that you can find the record images easily on your computer hard drive. If you don't know how to do this, contact a knowledgeable computer user in your local society, or your friendly neighbor computer geek, to teach you how - it is not difficult.
Unfortunately, what I have recommended above does not mesh well with the "Genealogy in the Cloud" vision that seems to be the future of genealogy research. Ancestry.com is very well-positioned to be the major player in the Genealogy Cloud competition. They have made it easy for subscribers to move data between Ancestry.com and FTM 2010 family tree. No other family tree software program can upload the attached media to an Ancestry Member Tree, or vice versa.
At this time, there is NOT a seamless synchronization between FTM 2010 and Ancestry Member Trees. Uploading from FTM 2010 creates a NEW Ancestry Member Tree, and does not just update an existing Member Tree. A downloaded Member Tree into FTM 2010 can create a new family tree, or can be merged into an existing family tree. Ancestry.com's goal is probably to provide a synchronization feature that permits a user to change their database information in either a Member Tree or an FTM database and have it automatically update the other element.
There are several other family tree websites that exchange genealogy databases and media with family tree software - the
www.MyHeritage.com website and the free Family Tree Builder genealogy software is one such combination. But the MyHeritage site is not free for users with more than 500 persons in their database, and true synchronization is not yet available.