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
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.
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.)