The first one that everybody uses is called a Family Group Sheet and every one of your genealogy programs produce those or you can download them from the internet or buy the forms from several places. That becomes your Bible. It is a form that lists a man's name, his wife's name, their children, and everyone's vital statistics such as birth, death, and marriage dates. And you do one of these for every family - you do one for yourself and then you would do one for your father and mother and one for your grandparents. Otherwise, we family historians use anything that's handy - a spiral notebook, an index card, scratch paper, napkins, envelopes, we use them all. Most of your genealogy libraries and courthouses will not let you bring in closed containers like briefcases nor do they allow ink pens. It keeps people from writing and doing damage to the records that can't be fixed or walking off with books or records. For library and archive visits you need a spiral notebook and number two pencils and an eraser.
