These may be extended to include military papers, old land deeds, copies of census reports, naturalization papers, etc. Letters, postcards, and old photos may also provide clues as to an ancestor's whereabouts at a given time. They also augment our understanding of the lives these people led. File folders suffice until the day one is dropped, spilling the contents in a disheveled heap. Duplicates for both files run up the cost not to mention doubling the file space.
Notebooks provide an excellent alternative.
They are portable and easily read. Pages of various sizes can be made uniform. Merely place the document in a sheet protector, with an acid-free page of paper to separate it from the reverse side document. As for filing the documents in an understandable order, we suggest a numbering system. As each document is received, it is put in the next page protector and given the next available number.