APG-L Archives

From: "E.Rodier" <>
Subject: text or source images
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2004 11:55:29 -0700
References: <200412010023.iB10N576005842@mail.rootsweb.com>

As a volunteer for a 1906 census project, I had to make many guesses at
handwriting and many data entry decisions. Some online pages have notes
added by the volunteers and would likely be closer to an extract or abstract
rather than a transcription. A researcher might start with a computer search
and then view a district page by page for similar names and then look at the
original images from microfilm. Some of the original census pages are not
clear but are not available for new microfilm copies or direct scans. Some
time periods have no sources other than local histories about prominent
families or scattered church records.

Canadian researchers are still waiting for access to the 1911 census which
had originally been due for release in June 2003.

No matter how carefully cited, a text-only source cannot compare with an
image that shows the handwriting. A professional or serious researcher could
publish a word processor report with a perfectly punctuated text source
(transcription, extract etc) and completely miss the most important clues
for the locations of family events. Pre-printed pedigree sheets didn't have
space for adequate details and some of the fit to page computer genealogy
printouts are nearly as limited.

A certified copy of a USA court house death registration is just the 1970
clerk's best guess at the handwriting of the original. A DAR executive who
was my snail-mail mentor 1969-1994 searched in vain for a birth in Calais,
Maine because Calais was clearly written on the death record. Another source
from a published 1851 memorial similar to a lengthy obituary states that the
family had lived in Castine when the youngest child was born and the father
died around 1817.

My family history is incomplete until it has readable images of the most
important details from available sources for the direct line. I also keep
text lists of census households from the best available sources in marriage
notes rather than pasting the same citation to a separate source . -- E.
Rodier, Alberta

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mills"
> <I think not all of us love a debate quite so much as you!! ;-) >
> Or at least not publicly <g>. I've now had twelve private e-mails with
> somewhat "related" questions, plus two more from the two people who raised
> the issue last week but had opposing views. Still nobody wants to post
> them
> online so we can hear a range of opinions. Sigh. I'm back where I started
> from with the first two contradictions!
> Elizabeth

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