Directions for transcribers of vital records
Essentially, you are to type the lines exactly as you see them. There are some minor changes spelled out below, but they do not change any aspect of the entry.
- It is generally easiest to use Notepad. Web browsers do not recognize all of the formatting that word processors put it. Browsers read a plain text document that has special codes in it.
- At the top of each batch of transcriptions transcriptions put Town name, County, Record type (ie. Ipswich, Essex, Marriages).
- Do not omit the square brackets in names, such as Tho[ma]s or Eliza[beth]. The brackets indicate material inserted by the compilers of the VRs. It is important that researchers know about the insertions.
- Be careful to type the names as they appear - maintain our ancestor's creative spelling. It is very easy to type Elizabeth when it was spelled Elisabeth. Abigail and Elizabeth are, perhaps, the two names with the most variation. Some surnames are also notoriously bad. Batchelder has something like 20 variations.
- Missing names are represented by underlines, use 5 underscores (_____).
- For consistency across all towns, the month's names are entered as: Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.
- Missing month names, use 3 underscores (___ 12, 1701).
- Missing dates, use 2 underscores (Mar. __, 1701 or ___ __, 1701).
- References (i.e. CT. R., C.R. 5., P.R. 29., etc.), use <CTR>, <CR5>, <PR29>, etc. If you would like a list of the abbreviations for your town that need angle brackets, just ask.
- Some towns kept the use of superscripted letters, such as Mr or Samll. If you encounter these, enclose the superscript letters in braces - {}.
- If you're not sure of a line, put a ?? at the problem and I'll check it out.
- For the page numbers, put "Page nn," where nn is the page number, at the left side. "*Intention also recorded" isn't entered. It only appears on marriages and I put it at the top of the web page.
- Where a single entry takes more than one line in the original publication, just continue on one line. This works best in Notepad if you uncheck "Word wrap."
- When doing more than one page, enter them in a single file. You only need put "Page nn" for succeeding pages. If a surname is continued on successive pages, the surname is not needed.
- One change from the originals is in state name abbreviations. Use the modern abbreviations, NH, ME, MD, NY, etc. For other places, like Nova Scotia, Long Island, etc., use the given abbreviation, N.S., L.I., but don't put in spaces.
- Old style dates should appear as: 9: 8m: 1645
Ages should appear as: a. 17 y. 9 m. 8 d.
- Proofreading. It is up to you to do the proofreading. It just isn't practical for me, or anyone else, to do it. Remember that the books themselves are copies and errors are known to exist. We don't need to introduce any new ones. When you do your own research, you want the records to be as accurate as possible, so think about that as you type the transcriptions.
Don't worry if it takes you longer. Time is not critical, accuracy is.
- The samples below should give you a good idea of what your work should look like when complete.
- When you have a batch of transcriptions complete, return them to me via e-mail. Send the file to me as an attachment at VitalRecords@MA-VitalRecords.org.
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