Our company has been in business since 2010, starting in genealogy and moving to primarily WWI and WWII research. Since that time we’ve completed several client-based and personal long-term research and writing projects. The personal projects resulted in several books on World War II research and writing, and the development of programs to teach people how to research and write the stories of war. The client-based projects have varied, but one has been unlike any we’ve encountered before. Keep reading to learn how one client question turned into a life changing event for everyone the project touched. Read what some of our clients have said about their projects.
Long-Term Client Project Example
Since 2011, Jennifer has worked with an Italian American in Chicago on his family history. What began in 2011 as a quest to attempt to answer a question about his late wife’s ancestry, turned into what could be a full-time job over the course of six years. This client’s family originated in Ricigliano, Italy and emigrated to the U.S. beginning in the late 1880s, and ended up settling in Chicago. Jennifer has the most in-depth, complete database of those from Ricigliano, Italy, in existence. In this area, she is an expert. Not only did this client hire her, but several of his cousins hired her to complete work on their ancestors, which all tied into the main client’s lines over time. Jennifer did the research, wrote the reports, and also wrote books for each client. The way the project has unfolded, in part, is listed here.
2011 projects
- Late wife’s family research
- Photographs scanned and edited
- Book with photographs based on the research
2012 projects
- Genealogical research (paper and microfilm)
- Research and writing of biographies
- Photo scanning and editing
- Descendant based genealogy book for client with six customized variations for sister and cousins
- Photo book
2013 projects
- Genealogical research (paper and microfilm)
- Research and writing of biographies
- Photo scanning and editing
- Paperwork scanning and editing
- Descendant based genealogy book for client with six customized variations for sister and cousins
- Descendant based book on late wife’s side only for distribution to her family
2014 projects
- Genealogical research (paper and microfilm)
- Worked with Italian researcher summer 2014 to start pulling Ricigliano
- Blogging about the project to encourage more documentation, photographs, recipes, and memories to surface. Blog post contributions. People who have read my blog posts about the project contribute information and materials. I evaluate the information and add it to the database. Much of what was contributed is now connected to the lines of descent.
- Photo scanning and editing
- Paperwork scanning and editing. Organization of all materials into archival folders and boxes.
- Biography research and writing on various individuals
- Working with client as he writes his family memories and memoirs. Provided suggestions for writing and edited client pieces.
- Interviewed several family members and friends to enable me to write biographies and pieces of history for client’s books.
- Military research for biographies. Writing biographies.
- Books written for late wife’s side of the family
- Wrote and published a descendant based book (200+ pages). This book also contain photographs and other materials.
- Wrote and published a statistics and analysis of the family book for client’s side (100+ pages)
- Photo book
- Books written for client’s side of the family
- Wrote and published a descendant based book (500+ pages). This book moved from past to present down all lines of descent. Customized this for six other family members which led to the creation of seven distinct books. These books also contain photographs and other materials.
- Wrote and published a statistics and analysis of the family book for client’s side (100+ pages)
- Photo book
- Biography volume for client based on his memories of life, biographies about his family which he and I wrote, eulogies, and recipes.
2015 projects
At this point, the goals for the project had grown to such an extent that the client and I met to re-evaluate and set a few different goals for 2015-2016. Much of this revolved around the creation of books because the research had become so complex reaching into the 1600s. The primary reason it became so complex is because many of the parents in the late 1600s/early 1700s had two or three children who were direct line ancestors. When you create descendant based books, it appears there is a lot of duplication. This makes editing complex and interesting and extremely time consuming.
- Genealogical research (paper and microfilm)
- Continued work with Italian researcher who helped us bring the lines back to the late 1600s
- Creation of goals for my pieces of the project and what we want the Italian researcher to work on
- Continued Project Management
- Analysis of all photos, documents, ephemera pulled out of every closet and box in the house. This led to new research paths, and more photo and document scanning, editing, and archival storage.
- Photo and document scanning and editing (we have scanned over 5000 photos)
- Organization of all photos and papers, books, albums in the collection
- Received a collection of 1920s-1940s wedding photos which were unidentified. Scanned and made available to Rigi researchers. Some were identified.
2016 projects
- Genealogical research (paper and microfilm)
- Continued work with Italian researcher who helped us bring the lines back to the late 1600s
- Photo scanning and editing
- Paperwork scanning and editing. Organization of all materials into archival folders and boxes.
- Biography research and writing on various individuals
- Working with client as he writes his family memories. Provided suggestions for writing and edited client pieces.
- Interviewed several family members and friends to enable me to write biographies and pieces of history for client’s books.
- Military research for biographies. Writing biographies.
- Books written for late wife’s side of the family
- Wrote and published a descendant based book which included statistics and analysis (300+ pages). This set of books will move from past to present down all lines of descent. This book also contains photographs and other materials.
- Photo book
- Books written for client’s side of the family
- Creation of a several volume set of descendant based books which will cover everyone we’ve researched starting in the 1600s. This set of books will move from past to present down all lines of descent. This is the first year these books will not be customized for each family member as the material has become so complex. It is estimated 2-3 volumes at over 500 pages each. These books also contain photographs and other materials.
- Creation of ancestor based books to clearly show the line from client or his family member from present to past. Customized this for six other family members which led to the creation of seven distinct books
- Photo book
- Biography volume for client based on his memories of life, biographies about his family which he and I wrote, eulogies, and recipes. Specifically for client.
- Family biography volume containing materials for the entire family.
- Book on late wife’s side which includes material not in the family version.
2017 projects
- Genealogical research
- Photo scanning and editing
- Paperwork scanning and editing. Organization of all materials into archival folders and boxes.
- Biography research and writing on various individuals
- Working with client as he writes his family memories. Provided suggestions for writing and edited client pieces.
- Books written for client’s side of the family (in progress)
- Creation of a several volume set of descendant based books which will cover everyone we’ve researched starting in the 1600s. This set of books will move from past to present down all lines of descent. This is the first year these books will not be customized for each family member as the material has become so complex. It is estimated 2-3 volumes at over 500 pages each. These books also contain photographs and other materials.
- Photo book
- Biography volume for client based on his memories of life, biographies about his family which he and I wrote, eulogies, and recipes. Specifically for client.
This is only a glimpse at the entire long-term project I’ve been involved in, but gives you an idea of the level of work possible.
If you are looking for a researcher or writer to do long-term, complex projects, please contact us for details on how to get started today.
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