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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
Lauren AlgeeFeb 26, 2019 2:43 PM (in response to suzanne piecuch)
Thanks for letting us know, Suzanne! I've added this page to the Community Managers' running list of completed items that need edits.
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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
Melissa Himes Mar 19, 2019 9:53 PM (in response to Lauren Algee)1 person found this helpfulDoes this mean that anything that remains in brackets should never be accepted as completed? I'm not sure, but, in my humble opinion, that envelope manuscript could either be Lincoln - read this or LIncoln recd this. Which is it? With no other examples of this particular scribe, is it even possible to be sure what is written?
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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
suzanne piecuch Mar 20, 2019 11:10 AM (in response to Melissa Himes)1 person found this helpfulHi Melissa,
I haven't been doing this for that long, but I've noticed that things that were once indecipherable to me have become clearer as I've become accustomed to scripts and writing conventions of the day. I find myself going back to stuff I questioned and, if it's still unreviewed, I can transcribe with confidence.
If I see something I can't decipher, I move on, because I'm pretty sure someone with more experience can.
But, I defer to Lauren ...This is all still a work in progress for most of us!
I'm still not sure if missing reference numbers alone are worth flagging, but since this one had a missing number and the bracketed question, I brought it up.
Suz.
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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
Victoria Van HyningMar 21, 2019 2:40 PM (in response to suzanne piecuch)
I think it would be worth capturing the missing reference numbers, but wouldn't encourage anyone to exhaustively seek them out. Just record a link here if you find something.
-Victoria, Community Manager
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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
Melissa Himes Mar 21, 2019 11:38 PM (in response to suzanne piecuch)Hi Suz.
I've been doing this work for about 5 years and work with 6 different transcription sites. It is true that as people gain more experience working with the records, they become better transcribers. However, there will be times when a word can not be transcribed because the manuscript lacks contextual clues to determine what was being written. In other cases, like the manuscript on this envelope, there might not be enough script to compare the way a writer created their letters. As for the reference numbers, I defer to the LOC staff as well and this is why I begged the question. I doubt that anyone is going to search for a record using a reference number and a researcher who finds the document will see the reference number of the image. To me, it seems an incredible waste of time to worry about these types of petty errors.-
Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
suzanne piecuch Mar 27, 2019 10:18 PM (in response to Melissa Himes)Hi Melissa,
I agree with you on a lot of that, and the only reason I posted is that there was earlier discussion about keeping track of Completes that could use a revisit, and also that it's helpful to include the reference numbers.
Sometimes one just runs across these things; it certainly would be a waste of time to go looking for them!
I'm rather embarrassed that what I intended as a passing FYI (with a silly headline, no less!) has started such a stream. Nonetheless, i suppose that's not a bad thing.
Cordially, Suzanne.
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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
Melissa Himes Mar 29, 2019 7:01 PM (in response to suzanne piecuch)1 person found this helpfulLong streams are never a bad thing. They often lead to great discussions and learning. I also index and review for FamilySearch. We have a Facebook page with over 3000 members where people can ask questions about the project instructions for various collections, ask for assistance in deciphering handwriting, and sometimes just share interesting stories. One question can result in 2 or 40 comments as the group works through a question or offers assistance. Over the past 7 years it has become a wonderful virtual community and many friendships have been made. I think the same will be true of these communities in History Hub.
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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
Victoria Van HyningMar 21, 2019 2:37 PM (in response to Melissa Himes)
1 person found this helpfulHi Melissa,
I think in this case it's Lincoln recd this, but it's a very tough call. I'm going on the basis of how the other a's look and making a best guess.
If something is in brackets in a "I'm not sure what this means" sort of way, and I couldn't make any better guess myself, I'd be tempted to pass over it. In this case though, the only uncertainty I think is recd v read, but the word Lincoln and this are legible to the original transcriber. I'd suggest that if you as a reviewer come across something in brackets and are able to read parts of it, move the brackets to surround only that text which is still mysterious. And remember, square brackets are used for deleted text, illegible text, and text that's unclear to the transcriber, so there will be many completed pages with square brackets indicating deletions are genuinely illegible material.
-Victoria, Community Manager
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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
Melissa Himes Mar 21, 2019 11:56 PM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)Hi Victoria. I think this script is unlike any of the others and am uncertain we can be sure there is another "a" written by the same scribe. I think it is "read" because the "c" in Lincoln does not look the same as the letter in the word in question. Why did Lincoln read or receive this? Perhaps a researcher would know the answer. Quite honestly, except for the fact that these are in a collection of Lincoln's papers, I could make a case that this doesn't even say Lincoln. That is a very unclear "o" and "n". I agree with you that the brackets could have different placement. Perhaps asterisks should have been added to the entire phrase to indicate that it is marginalia.
Every site has a learning curve, and this one is no exception, especially in the way square brackets are being employed and illegible text is transcribed using multiple question marks or simply [ ]. I prefer when sites use [strikethrough] [/strikethrough] for deletions, and [illegible] for words that can't be deciphered. It's unfortunate that there is little uniformity among various sites. But, at least the effort to produce searchable, readable text is being attempted by so many.-
Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
Victoria Van HyningMar 22, 2019 2:57 PM (in response to Melissa Himes)
1 person found this helpfulHi Melissa,
This is a letter that came into the legal office of Lincoln and his law partner, and later biographer, William Herndon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Herndon_(lawyer). I am not a Lincoln specialist, but I'd guess that Herndon perhaps or someone else may have marked that Lincoln read or received the letter, either because it was relevant to the biography or because Lincoln was giving some insight or feedback about the case. Of course in 1860, when the letter came in, he had a few other things on his mind, but he may well have been involved with or privy to the case.
As for the conventions, it's a good point that consistency with other existing sites, including other Federal crowdsourcing projects such as Smithsonian Transcription Center, might be very helpful, particularly to practiced volunteers, but we felt in creating these conventions that we wanted them to involve as little typing as possible, so hence all the square brackets. What you suggest about using the marginalia brackets and stars is correct.
-Victoria
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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
Jennifer Parker Mar 1, 2019 5:44 PM (in response to suzanne piecuch)I accidentally hit "Accept" on this one, which also has a few bracketed questions: https://crowd.loc.gov/campaigns/letters-to-lincoln/1858-1859-presidential-nomination/mal0097300/mal0097300-2/
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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
Victoria Van HyningMar 4, 2019 9:43 AM (in response to Jennifer Parker)
Thanks for letting us know, Jennifer! I've added this page to the Community Managers' running list of completed items that need edits.
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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
suzanne piecuch Mar 10, 2019 2:06 PM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)Hi Victoria,
When we run across Completes that could use more work, do we mention them here, or is there a compiled list to add to?
Or is this something we should just ignore for now?
I looked to see if this was covered elsewhere in Discussions, but haven't seen anything; I've been away for a bit, so might've missed something.
Thank you!
Suzanne.
p.s. That letter Jennifer mentions is a wonderful read!
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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
Lauren AlgeeMar 19, 2019 3:57 PM (in response to suzanne piecuch)
Yes! A great idea, suzanne piecuch. I second your nomination to make this the official location for posting any completed pages you come across that need a little more work. Your title for the thread is perfect! "Completed transcription, needs a-fixin'"
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Anything posted here will also be added to Community Mangagers' running list of items to be reopened/corrected when we're able.
(And I agree, that letter is fantastic, Jennifer Parker!)
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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
suzanne piecuch Mar 19, 2019 8:21 PM (in response to Lauren Algee)This one is missing the bottom reference number on most of the pages.
There are also a few pages with undeciphered words
another question: If a completed transcription is just missing the bottom reference number, is that important enough to reopen, or will a tag do?
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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
Victoria Van HyningMar 20, 2019 10:08 AM (in response to suzanne piecuch)
It wouldn't hurt to list this here. Thanks for checking suzanne piecuch
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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
Sharon McKinley Mar 24, 2019 9:53 PM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)All of you folks are great. The attention to detail is amazing.
So you got my attention--several days later. What a hassle these things can be! BTW, I read the date on that envelope as Jan. 9, 1860. Read vs. recd? who knows? I'd guess rec'd, myself. Would the writer suggest to Lincoln on the envelope that he read it? Or say that he read it? I wouldn't think so, but I haven't done enough of these to have a feel for it.
Jennifer's letter is wonderful! I believe the bracketed word is Sentiments. Whaddya think?
Sharon
This may account for some of my
political [La? Fi???ents], anti-Borderation!
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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
Kim Elliott Mar 31, 2019 4:45 PM (in response to Lauren Algee)Hi! :-) This may be way too tiny a blooper to include in the "needs a fixin'" queue, but this page w/a short one-liner diary entry was accepted and has a typo in the date: https://crowd.loc.gov/campaigns/mary-church-terrell-advocate-for-african-americans-and-women/diaries-and-journals-1888-1…
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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
suzanne piecuch Apr 3, 2019 12:20 PM (in response to Kim Elliott)(that's rather funny!)
regarding Tgursday :-)
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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
Kim Elliott Apr 5, 2019 11:52 AM (in response to suzanne piecuch)Hi! :-) I'm sure I've done something similar in my zeal...happy transcribing/reviewing! Cheers, Kim
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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
Henry Rosenberg Apr 5, 2019 3:10 PM (in response to Kim Elliott)Very likely my typo. I'm surprised I didn't catch it. I review all of my transcriptions. Oh,well. BTW, I hope you are enjoying reading her diaries. Occasionally, something good pops up.
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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
Donna Smillie Jul 2, 2019 11:27 AM (in response to Lauren Algee)1 person found this helpfulI accidentally accepted instead of editing a page I was reviewing for Henry Rosenberg - would be great if someone could fix a couple of tiny errors on that page:
Line 7:
Change "clean-" to "cleaning" at the end of the line, and delete the "ing" from the start of following line.
Line 11:
Add "of" at the start of line, preceding "lime".
Thanks,
Donna
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Re: completed transcription, needs a-fixin'
Victoria Van HyningJul 2, 2019 2:27 PM (in response to Donna Smillie)
Hi Donna,
I've reopened the page for you.
-Victoria
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