Deciphering and Reproducing Old Documents Paleography, Extraction, Transcription, Abstraction

Home , Archive, Court hand, Long s, Palaeography, Secretary hand

By Mindy Taylor AG®

Paleography- The study and analysis of old handwriting in order to read documents with accuracy and fluency. • Know alphabetical characters in different hands. • Know how to interpret abbreviations.

Alphabetical Characters

English Handwriting Styles- • Book-1100-1500 https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections/researchguidance/me dievaldocuments/handwritingstyles.aspx

• Court-1300-1700 Wright's Court Hand Restored http://www.archive.org/details/courthandrestor00wrig

• Secretary-1400-1800 mostly obsolete by 1750 Guide to the Basics of English Secretary Hand by Kathryn James https://beinecke.library.yale.edu/article/quarantine-reading-learn-read-secretary-hand Secretary Hand Alphabet and Abbreviation Examples http://rycote.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/palaeography-introduction FamilySearch.org wiki Secretary Hand https://www.familysearch.org/indexing/help/handwriting#!/lang=en&title=Alphabet%2 0(Secretary%20Hand)

• Italic- 1500-1800 • Round- since the 1800’s

Obsolete Letter Forms • Long s derived from the old Roman cursive s (ſ). Used in the middle of a word up to the early 19th century. Transcribe as s.

• ff at the beginning of a word is the early form of the capital letter F. Generally, it was transcribed as F, however in Diplomatic conventions it could be transcribed as ff.

Paleography Tutorials- BYU Script tutorial https://script.byu.edu/ English Handwriting Online 1500-1700 https://www.english.cam.ac.uk/ceres/ehoc/ National Archive Paleography 1500-1800 https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/palaeography/

Latin Word Lists- Article by Kimberly Powell https://www.thoughtco.com/latin-genealogical-word-list-1422735 FamilySearch.org https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Latin_Genealogical_Word_ https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/img_auth.php/3/35/Latin_Genealogical_Word_L ist.pdf

Interpreting Abbreviations- • Shortened word with or without a period • Superscript • Brevigraph • A line or tilde above a word Folger Shakespeare Library Early Modern Manuscripts Online https://emmo.folger.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Early- Modern_Abbreviations.pdf Bodleian Libraries Secretary Hand Abbreviations http://rycote.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/Palaeography-Guide-abbreviations

Reproducing Documents

Extraction- An exact copy of a selected piece of a document. • Copy information exactly as it appears in the document. • Use quotation marks.

Transcription- An exact copy of a document with the original grammar, punctuation, spelling, abbreviations, notes, and marks copied as faithfully as possible in a handwritten or typed format. • Diplomatic: a faithful reproduction of the original document including spelling, punctuation, lineation, superscripts, and abbreviations rendered as closely as typographically possible. u/v, i/j, ff, superscripts, abbreviations, are maintained. Thorn transcribed as y.

• Semi-Diplomatic: same as Diplomatic but allows transcriber to expand contractions and lower superscripts. Most used for scholarly transcriptions. Paleography tutorials, searchability, readability. brevigraphs replaced with modern equivalent, y=thorn replaced with th. Conventions- Early Modern Manuscripts Online https://emmo.folger.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/EMMO-transcription- conventions.pdf Semi-Diplomatic Convention- English Handwriting Online 1500-1700 https://www.english.cam.ac.uk/ceres/ehoc/ BYU Script Tutorial https://script.byu.edu/Pages/paleography/home

Creating a Transcript- • Read through the entire document first for context. • Note the words that are easy to recognize, use them to identify more difficult words. • Turn off spell check/grammar autocorrect option. • Always include a source citation at the top of the page. • Keep the line length and page format the same as the original document if possible. • In a document that is a form you can italicize handwritten information. Add a note at the top of the document [Note: handwritten portions are in italics.] In Client Reports • Short transcriptions or extractions should be enclosed in quotations. • Long transcriptions should be presented as an indented paragraph. Use of Square Brackets (Do not use round parentheses when transcribing) • Used to indicate something that is not in the original text. • Used to insert a comment, correction, interpretation, or clarification. • Signals an issue with legibility. [?]-Letters or words that you are not sure about. [illegible] [3 words illegible] [paragraph illegible]-For text you can’t read. If you assume a word use disch[arg?]ed. If you know what the word should be use Alex[and]er. Use of Curly Brackets • Used to indicate something that is missing or too damaged to read. { } -For text that is missing. {torn} {ink blot}-Description to clarify a problem. If page is torn and you know what it should read Chur{ch}. How to use [sic] • Sic is Latin for “so, thus.” It is used to indicate that something that is incorrectly written is intentionally being left as it was in the original. The goal of a transcript is to reproduce exactly what you see so using [sic] would be redundant. • Place [sic] right after the error.

• In genealogical transcriptions only use [sic] when necessary for understanding that there is an actual error in the document, not just a misspelling. Handwriting • Letters can be compared with other letters in the document or other documents in the same hand. • Use the context of what is being said to figure out words. • Use handwriting or alphabet samples for different hands. Script.byu.edu and FamilySearch.org wiki. Superscripts, Underlined, Crossed Out, and Inserted Text • Should be included as presented. • If you cannot accurately represent something with your word processor include a note of explanation or use square brackets. Diacritical Marks • A mark added to a letter to indicate a special pronunciation (ā). • There are 11 types of marks. Punctuation Marks • Stop ( . ) Pause ( : or ; ). • Commas (│ or , ). • Slash ( / ) can be used as a period. • Dash ( _ ) instead of a period. • Long dashes (—) used to fill space. • Double lined hyphen (=) to break words at the end of a line. Seals • Draw in seals when handwriting a transcription. • Type in the word “Seal” wherever it is positioned on the document when typing a transcription. Dates • Dates should be transcribed exactly as they are presented. • Do not ‘interpret’ old-style calendar dating as modern equivalents. Transcribe the letter you see • Letters u and v were sometimes used interchangeably, unto=vnto and even=euen. • j was a variation of the letter i and could be used both as vowel and consonant. Roman numerals xiij for xiii.

Creating an Abstract- An abbreviated copy of a document that records all the important details but leaves out excess wording and boilerplate language. (Boilerplate- A unit of writing used in legal documents that can be reused over and over without change.) • Always include a citation at the top of the document. • Preserve exact arrangement of data. • Use same language and tense. • Copy names and dates exactly. • Include anything that is described or traceable. • Reproduce signatures and signature marks faithfully.