cricket

Some of you are authors; maybe you have advice for me. I appreciate any thoughts you may have about this..

My mother is writing her second genealogy book; the local copy shop will bind the pages when she is finished. She has asked me to type and edit her work.

My Uncle Jim, who died three years ago, often helped my mother with her research, and she wants to include his notes in the book. What is the best way to do this? Can we call him the author of the foreword? Are forewords always authored by someone still living; someone telling the reader their thoughts about the book? Or might the foreword be the work of someone such as my uncle? He had hoped his research could be useful, so back in 1978 he wrote these three short essays summarizing his findings. I'm not sure how to include this work, or what to call it.

I prefer to put it in the front rather than in an appendix, so that the family history will be in chronological order. (The paragraphs my uncle wrote concern very Early American history; my mother's work is later -- 1800s etc)

Should uncle's stuff be called an "introduction" instead?

The plan, thus far:
In Mom's preface she mentions that uncle's notes comprise the foreword. Then, the next section IS the part written by him: Foreword (or Introduction or....?) by (uncle's name, 1940-2000). Or, maybe put his name at the end of his work. (Uncle's name, 1978, St Louis Missouri)

So, to summarize, mom is planning something like:
title page
dedication
table of contents
preface
foreword
introduction
chapters
addenda (cemeteries, etc)
bibliography
index

btw ... uncle's three essays don't flow together. So if used as a foreword it would have to be sectioned A, B, C. That would be weird. (Wouldn't it?) Suggestions?

A. There's one that is speculation about family roots in England; it is just a few paragraphs.
B. The second essay relates historical info about colonial Virginia and ancestors there.
C. The third is about ancestors in a different area of colonial Virginia.

I could tie the three together, but then it wouldn't be 100% written by him. I assume that matters... I assume that to segue from topic to topic is not considered just "editing."

Maybe I should call this something other than a "foreword", and simply present his work like this:

This is what he wrote about England in the 1600's:
(essay A)
--uncle's name, January 1978
He later found details about blah blah blah in virginia; he writes:
(essay B)
--uncle's name, August 1978
and then over in blah blah county...
(essay C)
--uncle's name, Sept 1978

I welcome any thoughts on the matter. Thanks!