Reference
Reference
This page explains in plain words the terms that come up in advice on storing papers, digitizing and genealogy. Many of them sound like professional jargon, but each one stands for something you do at home: choosing an envelope, making a copy, writing down how the person in a photo is related to you. The glossary is split into three groups, matching the tasks covered in the main sections of the reference.
“Parish register” and “revision list” sound like titles of old novels. In fact, these are records where your ancestor may have appeared on paper for the very first time.
Storage
- Acid-free paper
- Paper without the acidic substances that break down sheets and photos over time. Envelopes and interleaving sheets made from it don't yellow and don't pass yellowing on to what's inside. If you don't have this kind of paper, clean white paper is still better than a plastic bag or newspaper.
- Envelope
- The simplest way to keep a photo or letter separate from its neighbors. You can write what's inside on the outside of the envelope, so you won't have to take the original out unnecessarily. It's best to choose envelopes without glue on the inside and without clear windows.
- Archival box
- A sturdy box made of acid-free cardboard for holding envelopes and folders. It protects against light, dust and sudden changes in humidity. An ordinary shoebox will do as a temporary solution if you put paper envelopes inside and keep it in a dry room.
- Fading
- The gradual loss of color and contrast in a photograph or ink caused by light and time. Color photos usually fade more noticeably than black-and-white ones. The process can't be stopped completely, but darkness and steady conditions slow it down considerably, and a digital copy preserves how it looks today.
Digitizing
- Resolution
- A measure of how fine the details a digital copy can preserve. The higher it is, the more you can zoom in on a face or an inscription, but the bigger the file. For a family archive, it makes sense to choose high quality: finding free space on a drive is easier than taking a fragile photo out a second time.
- File format
- The way an image is stored in a file. Some formats compress the picture and save space but lose some detail; others keep everything without loss and take up more space. People often keep the master copy in a lossless format and make a lighter version for sending to relatives.
- Backup
- An extra copy of the archive on another drive and in another place. This is what saves your photos if the computer breaks or the phone gets lost. A backup needs to be checked from time to time: a file that won't open doesn't count as a copy.
- Metadata
- Information about a file stored inside it: the date taken, a description, the author, a photo caption. Many photo viewers let you fill it in. Metadata is useful, but it's safer to duplicate the key to the archive in a separate text inventory.
Genealogy
- Generation
- A step of kinship in the tree: you and your brothers and sisters are one generation, your parents and their brothers and sisters are the next, and your grandparents are another. Counting generations helps you avoid confusion when names repeat in a family.
- Direct line
- Kinship that runs straight from a person to their parents, grandparents and further back in time, or forward to their children and grandchildren. A family tree usually starts with the direct line.
- Collateral line
- Kinship through your ancestors' brothers and sisters: uncles, aunts, cousins and their descendants. Collateral lines often hold photos and letters that your own branch doesn't have, so it's worth asking about them.
- Parish register (metricheskaya kniga)
- A Russian church book in which births and baptisms, marriages and deaths of parishioners were recorded in the past. Surviving parish registers are usually kept in state archives; it's best to check with the archive itself what has been preserved.
- Revision list (revizskaya skazka)
- A list of residents compiled during “revisions,” the censuses of the taxpaying population in the Russian Empire. It names the members of each family and sometimes gives their ages and changes since the previous revision. Like parish registers, these lists are kept in archives today.
Where these terms come in handy
- Guides
A step-by-step article on digitizing a family photo album yourself, plus the catalog of articles.
- Questions
Short answers about storing papers and photos, digitizing, genealogy and privacy.
- Sections
The four topics of the reference: photographs, documents and letters, elders' memories, and genealogy.
- Collections
Reading paths: a weekend with Grandma's album, letters and cards, a family tree for a celebration.
Further reading
Sources
- General guidance on storing photographs and papers
- Russian Federal Law No. 125-FZ “On Archival Affairs in the Russian Federation”
This information is current as of the date the page was prepared. Old photographs and papers vary a great deal, so handle fragile and especially valuable originals slowly and carefully, and when in doubt, it's better to leave them alone.