Historian Report Templates

[bitflipper]

Good day, All.

I appreciate this forum and have been a weekly lurker since I joined CAP last year. Now I have accepted our Squadron's Historian position and am looking for examples of, or suggested templates for, a decent Historian's Report to be filed with Wing Hdqtrs. Please let me know if I should have posted this in Hysterical History instead of here.

I'm not looking for an example to copy so I can be lazy. Instead, I'd genuinely like to know what Wing Historians want or need to see in the semiannual Historian Reports from squadrons. I can't imagine someone wanting to read thick tomes of detailed historical reporting and analysis from every squadron twice a year. I can save the individual personal monographs for a web site or non-regular work. What facts, figures, and analysis helps the Wing personnel run the Wing?

I figure I'll include expository data about missions, exercises, training, etc. I'll note membership trends. I can discuss progress of various programs (e.g. Safety, Fundraising, Prof Dev, etc.) and whether they are meeting their goals. As a follow-on I can also discuss plans for improving problem areas and continuing successful ones.

Would anyone be willing to share their thoughts, examples, or templates regarding the Historian's Report?

Appreciatively,

Michael

[RiverAux]

Try the handbook for CAP historians pamphlet.   

Unfortunately, I think that the model they use is a bit of overkill, which is why just about no historians actually end up writing annual histories since the standard is overly complicated. 

If you turn in a paragraph written on a cocktail napkin you're going to be about of 90% of CAP historians. 

[bitflipper]

Thank you, River. I had a copy of the pamphlet and your answer lets me know that I shouldn't worry too much about worry too much about the exact inclusions and exclusions as long as I follow that template.

I'm off to translate notes into a formatted report ... and then get back to trying to organize years of digital photographs taken by dozens of people into search-able, tagged groups.

By the way, do many Historians or PAOs use photo-tagging software such as Picasa? (I'm finding a LOT of overlap between the Historian, PAO, and ITO. Have camera, notepad, and web server - will travel.)