Lost research

[shirohniichan]

How many of you have spent months (years?) gathering research for a writing project only to have it disappear?

 

I've been gathering source references on the Japanese ni-bu kin (octagonal gold coin value at 2 "bu") over the past year. I figured I finally had enough to start writing an article I'd planned to submit to Numismatist, but when I looked for my stack of photocopies from old newspapers, the Congressional record, books, etc. I discovered I'd lost everything. If my 5-year old found the papers she may have mistaken them as junk copies I give to her on occasion for her painting practice and paper airplane manufacturing. Maybe my wife chucked them. Maybe I put them with completely unrelated materials. I found my 15-lb stack of materials on the US 20-cent piece, but my nibu material was not mixed in.

 

Do I start all over again, or do I forget about it for now in the hope that my documents will reappear? Hmm...

[tejas1836]

I would wait. Hopefully they will surface.

 

You could always start over later if they don't.

 

Good Luck

[comicdonna]

Wow, very sad news. I hope the material shows up.

[DaveG]

Step One: buy a filing cabinet or some filing boxes that you store where non-numismatists won't get at them.

 

Step Two: start organizing your research material and fill up the filing cabinet or filing boxes. Your research won't do you any good if you can't find it when you need it. (Yes, I speak from much experience.) Also, as you're organizing, you might find your missing material.

 

Step Three: contemplate another project to take your mind off your missing research. For example, have you ever noticed that very large amounts of Japanese gold coins were deposited at the US Mints around 1904? Assuming the mintage figures in Krause are accurate, it looks like most of, or almost all of, the Japanese gold coins minted in the 19th century were deposited (and subsequently melted).

[leeg]

I sincerely hope you find your research!!!!

 

I use MOZY online backup for $5.99 a month.

 

All my research is there for the asking.

[James_OldeTowne]

Step One: buy a filing cabinet or some filing boxes that you store where non-numismatists won't get at them.

 

Step Two: start organizing your research material and fill up the filing cabinet or filing boxes. Your research won't do you any good if you can't find it when you need it. (Yes, I speak from much experience.) Also, as you're organizing, you might find your missing material.

 

Step Three: contemplate another project to take your mind off your missing research. For example, have you ever noticed that very large amounts of Japanese gold coins were deposited at the US Mints around 1904? Assuming the mintage figures in Krause are accurate, it looks like most of, or almost all of, the Japanese gold coins minted in the 19th century were deposited (and subsequently melted).

An alternative: immediately scan all pertinent documents to a PDF document via OCR technology! That way, you have digital copy and can easily make backups.

 

Sorry to hear of the tough loss. Even digital storage has its risks. I once somehow dumped over a hundred completed auction descriptions that I had to recreate basically from memory and piecemeal notes.

[Conder101]

Step four avoid fires. I lost two projects that way. Managed to recreate one of them (My index of legends on Conder tokens.) but not the other. (Research on die varieties on shield nickels. It was just a beginning with only about 150 variety listings so far.)

[cpm9ball]

Scanning the documents, as James suggested, is probably the smartest thing to do, but you could take it one step further and keep all of (your) copies of the original documents in a safe deposit box until the project is completed.

 

Chris

[brg5658]

I sincerely hope you find your research!!!!

 

I use MOZY online backup for $5.99 a month.

 

All my research is there for the asking.

 

I keep a lot of files on DropBox (dropbox.com)

 

It is a site with 2GB of free space, off of my computer, and accessible anywhere in the world. It automatically syncs with all of my computers (2 desktops and 3 laptops) and with my smart phone running Android. It's free, and very useful, and you can opt to share certain folders with others also.

 

I'd recommend scanning all documents, and putting a PDF/scanned copy in a folder on a dropbox (or similar) account. It has saved my on more than one occasion!

 

-Brandon

[coinman_23885]

I sincerely hope you find your research!!!!

 

I use MOZY online backup for $5.99 a month.

 

All my research is there for the asking.

 

I keep a lot of files on DropBox (dropbox.com)

 

It is a site with 2GB of free space, off of my computer, and accessible anywhere in the world. It automatically syncs with all of my computers (2 desktops and 3 laptops) and with my smart phone running Android. It's free, and very useful, and you can opt to share certain folders with others also.

 

I'd recommend scanning all documents, and putting a PDF/scanned copy in a folder on a dropbox (or similar) account. It has saved my on more than one occasion!

 

-Brandon

 

I have Dropbox as well, and it is great; however, it is messy if more than one user has access to it. It is easy for entire folders to be deleted, and while they can be restored, the process is a bit annoying. I just thought I'd throw this out there.

[shirohniichan]

Almost everything I had was on paper. The funny thing is that I have two places where I keep my research, and neither place has any of it. I'm thankful I still have years of notes and copies of sources regarding 20 cent pieces and relate material (I found some fascinating tangential material).

 

I guess I will start slowly to see if I can find the parts of books, reports, newpaper articles and legislation I'd collected. Making digital scans would be a good thing to try, also.

[RWB]

It's difficult to rebuild a research file, but sometimes it's an incentive to take a fresh look at the subject.

 

Scanning files will help - as much with organization as with backing up materials. But a note of caution: having your files split among two or more media formats can make assembling things more difficult. If you scan, scan all of one subject and index it.

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

To not have a dedicated Researcher continue and reconstruct, would seem to me the real travesty and loss.

 

I wish you well, and offer sincere encouragement.

 

Respectfully,

John Curlis

[coinman_23885]

I agree with RWB, especially given that great home scanners can now be had for $100 - $200. If you do decide to purchase a scanner and scan your research in the future, I recommend that you buy a flatbed scanner and that you also have a document feeder. Trust me, it is well worth the extra costs (which is usually nominal).

 

I personally like the HP OfficeJet wireless series (I have both a 6500 and 6500A). Both allow documents to be scanned directly to image files or to PDF. I think you will find the latter exceptionally useful, especially if you are not well acquainted with modern computer technology and imaging/PDF processing.