Recently many people have become interested in their ancestors. Because of their strong desire to find out who they are and something about them, they eagerly jump into the records and try to locate their people. Often they return home with their hands full of valuable genealogical research and pile their research notes in a box under the bed or in some other out of the way place.

Days, weeks, or months pass before those notes are looked at again. By that time the budding researcher may have little or no recollection as to which records he searched or what he found. He may have even forgotten where his research notes were put. Valuable time is then lost in locating the research notes, re-reading all the data found, or even duplicating previous work. A filing system of some nature would help the researcher avoid some of these problems.

Any basic note taking and filing system will contain certain fundamental items, namely (1) pedigree chart(s), (2) family group record(s), (3) certificates, documents, extracts, abstracts of genealogical information and, (4) a list of searchers which have been made, sometimes referred to as a Research Log, Calendar of Search, etc.

Most genealogical research is done on a family basis, therefore the concept of a Family Research Folder is presented as a means of filing genealogical documents and notes.