Transcription Instructions

Spelling, grammar, punctuation, word order, fractions, hyphens, symbols

Spelling: Use original spelling, misspellings will be kept

Transcribe abbreviations as they are written
Capitalization: Retain original capitalization, and for new sentences, capitalize the first word.
Punctuation: You will see many, many dashes used as punctuation. Add modern punctuation, using commas and periods for better readability.
Do not transcribe words that have been marked out.
Type out all ampersands "&" as "and" for readability.

Illegible, unclear text or missing parts of page

If you can’t make out a word at all, type [illegible].
If you see an [illegible] in a document someone's started, please update and change the word if you can make it out.
If you can make out part of a word, type the letters you see and place “x” for letters you’re uncertain about. Ex: [floxxut]
If you are mostly certain about a word, write the word in brackets with a questions mark. Ex: [imminently?]
For missing or torn sections of the letters, indicated the condition in brackets. Ex: [torn page] [right side of page missing]
For words that are missing or semi-legible, but you are reasonably confident in your guess, [place those words in brackets]

Line breaks and spacing

Group the date and header as they are organized in the document with the opening and closing salutations set apart.
Line Breaks: Two returns mark the start of a new paragraph, whether indicated by a blank line or by indentation in the original.

Handling of date, header, and opening salutation, and closing salutation

All transcriptions are left justified, regardless of centered letterhead or a date that might be on the right side of document.
For initials in a name, write them in this standardized way, with no space between them: A.D. Campbell. Include periods after initials even if they are not present in the original handwriting for consistency.

<p>Example: date and header</p>

<p>Example: closing salutation</p>

Bold, underline, italic, superscript, blanks, indentation, etc.

See image below, the buttons for tagging and formatting for bold, underline, etc are in the upper right of the screen over the transcription section of the page in FromThePage:

For underlined words, highlight them in the transcript and select “u” to tag it so that it’s underlined.
For italicized words, highlight them in the transcript and select “I” to tag so it’s italicized.
For bold words, highlight the word in the transcript and select “b” to tag it.
For superscripted parts of words, highlight those letters and select “sup” to superscript them.
Do not indent anything, all text is left justified.

Tables

Marginalia

When it’s apparent that someone came along at a later date and added contextual information about the letter, highlight that portion of the text, and tag it with “marginalia.”

Envelopes

Transcribe handwriting as written on the envelope, with all text left justified in the transcript.