Keep the archival source, digital scan, citation, family-recipient permission, encrypted copy and recovery copy distinct. For living people, minimize birth, marriage, address and identity details before any family handoff.
01 / DECISIONProtect the genealogy record without hiding ownership
Genealogy source history can support accountability, but indefinite retention expands exposure and confusion. Tie retention to family research, post-family research review, contractual duties, litigation holds and family-history evidence needs. Distinguish deleting an archive entry from verified sanitization of every underlying device and backup.
A family historian freezes a private collection for relative review. The team first proves the workflow with fictional genealogy scans, documents each authorized role and preserves the working source separately.
Run the control sequence
- 01
Classify artifacts by decision, legal and operational value.
- 02
Assign review dates tied to family research and periodic family-archive reviews.
- 03
Check holds, contracts and records obligations before disposal.
- 04
Retire superseded access and document archive disposition.
- 05
Use approved media sanitization for storage that truly must be cleared.
Preserve decision evidence
Record class, collection, retention basis, owner, review date, hold status, access removal, archive action, media action, approver and completion evidence.
Stop when
- Retention is “forever” without a stated reason.
- A hold or contractual duty has not been checked.
- Vault deletion is described as guaranteed device sanitization.
The record should show the approved collection, tested environment, responsible people and known limitations without storing passwords or unnecessary genealogy record content.
Separate the surrounding controls
Does not replace provider permissions, guaranteed backup, password recovery or enterprise identity management. Encryption does not assign provider permissions, verify a recipient, preserve every backup or remove plaintext working copies automatically.
Genealogy archive questions
Should the encrypted archive become the live genealogy record?
No. Keep the authoritative source and citation in the approved genealogy workspace and archive named scan collections deliberately.
Does resetting a password recover an existing archive?
Do not assume so. Document the product-specific recovery boundary and test a separate recovery copy.
Primary references
References support specific boundaries and do not imply endorsement.