By Shannon Bennett, Student

Image courtesy of stockimages/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This next section, Modules 3 and 4,  of the course Skills: Transcribing, Abstracting & Extracting  was a close-up look at creating an abstract. For those of you who do not know what an abstract is, the instructor defines it as “an abbreviation of the original content in a document.” Simply put, it is the bones of the document with all the superfluous information taken away.

The instructor provided tips throughout the module to help you with your abstractions. One that I particularly liked was to count the names from the document and make sure you have the same number of names in your final abstract. Names, dates, places, and other pertinent information should not be deleted. At times you will need to quote large sections from the document, like with a land record.  Sometimes it can be a bit challenging to figure out what is important and what is not, until you get the hang of it.

Part of me thinks this is where practice makes perfect. In this course, you will get a lot of practice from a variety of sources. Module 4 was only practice. I have said it before, abstractions and transcriptions are a bit of an art form, which once again comes with lots and lots of practice. How many of you have letters or documents that need this treatment?  Bet your house is full of practice items just waiting for you.

I was pretty comfortable with abstraction before I came to this course. However, I know many of my classmates were not. If you take this course I highly encourage you to borrow or purchase the suggested texts. They are great resources for you to have on your genealogy bookshelf if you can get them. Also, and most importantly, they give additional examples, explanations, and a different point of view. I could tell the instructor had read all of the suggested reading materials, and that she thought the students should too.

For your reference, the suggested texts are:

BCG Standards Manual

Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers and Librarians Chapter 16 edited by Elizabeth Shown Mills

Reading Early American Handwriting by Kip Sperry

Researchers Guide to American Genealogy, Chapters 2 and 20 by Val Greenwood

Check them out and prepare to take the course. You won’t regret it.

On to the final modules of the course.

See you online!

By Shannon Bennett, Student

Students in typing class in school. Ashwood Plantations, South Carolina. Library of Congress. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa2000032060/PP/resource/

Well, this course didn’t dally around; it jumped straight into the nuts and bolts of creating a good transcription. While several of the courses I previously wrote about did touch on the basics of transcription, Modules 1 and 2 of Skills: Transcribing, Abstracting & Extracting  provides an intense introduction to the process.

Yes, I have already created transcriptions, but as I stated in a prior post, the early ones were bad, in some cases, very bad. Transcriptions are an art form you need to learn and I know I am still developing those skills. Practice makes perfect though, and the more you read handwritten documents the better you get at creating transcriptions.

I particularly liked where the instructor walked us through various ways to use our word processing software, allowing our transcriptions to be more true to form. While several of these tricks I knew about there were several that I didn’t. Or, at least I had never given much thought to it.

For instance, and I feel like a dolt that I didn’t think of this before, you can turn off the spell/grammar checker as well as the auto-capitalization features of your software. The worst part of typing a transcription is the way it will automatically fix “bad” spelling and auto capitalize words on new lines. If you have not created a transcription you may not understand why this would be a problem but I assure you it can be.

Since transcriptions are true to the original copies and to be true to the original you must copy all words the exact way they are spelled, capitalize (or not), and preferably keep to the same line breaks as the original. Fighting your word processor is very frustrating particularly when you read back over what was typed to make sure the computer didn’t fix what it thought were mistakes. Normally I love my spell checker, other times I obviously need to turn it off!

In addition I was happy to see all the suggestions and guides to adding in superscript, subscripts, and other fonts or symbols. I was familiar with most of them, but I felt it was a good reminder for those who are not particularly comfortable with computer software and what they can do. Those functions really are simple steps to make a “true to the original copy” if you know how.

Of course, I loved the practical exercises as well. Yes, you all know that I am odd at times, but I honestly love seeing original (even facsimiles of them) handwritten letters and documents. It makes the past even more real, and it doesn’t matter if they are not part of my family. Seeing the documents drives home the fact that you are looking at a piece of history. History is always cool.

On to the next modules where we will learn about abstraction.

See you online!

By Shannon Bennett, Student

(c) 2014 Gena Philibert-Ortega. Used with permission.

The next required course I am taking for the National Institute is Skills: Transcribing, Abstracting & Extracting. If you have followed my journey so far you might be able to guess what my reaction to this course is going to be.

Of course, it was pure excitement!

Seriously, even though these may be tedious activities to do, and the least fun of all the possible genealogy chores, they are important skills for successful research.

Practice makes perfect, both in the world at large and in genealogy. Every year I can see my skills improve, and I am interested to see how this course will add to my experience. It will hopefully fill any holes that I still have in these three related areas.

After looking through the course table of contents I was excited to see practical exercises. Once again, practice makes perfect and these practical lessons will help with that. Every time I have to read, analyze, and dissect a period handwritten document the sharper my skills are. I kind of hope there are a few unusual ones thrown in there because it is the weird ones that make you really work. Even if they are a record type that I might not personally go try and find it would still be interesting to work through them.

I also looked through the suggested reading list. Thankfully I have all of the books on my shelf already.  I was excited to see Reading Early American Handwriting by Kip Sperry on the list since I just picked it up and have not had the chance to read it yet. Confession time: I have an interest in old handwritten documents. Mr. Sperry’s book was the latest in my collection on books and pamphlets that teach the reader how to understand various hands from different time frames and geographic locations. When I began my genealogy adventure I never knew that one of my odd interests would come in handy down the road.

Needless to say I am excited to get this course started. I hope you will follow along with me and see how it goes. Don’t forget at the end I will have a live chat where you can ask me about the course and hear more about what I learned. Oh, and of course, feel free to comment on any of the posts as we go too!

See you online!

By Shannon Bennett, Student

Image courtesy of samuiblue/Freedigitalphotos.net

Whoa, what a course. It made me think. It made me analyze my family connections. Most of all it showed me how great of a story my family narrative is! Amazing stuff, and I am so happy that I registered for it.

For those of you who are still not convinced, I am not sure there is much else I could say to sway you.  However, I will do my best. The rest of you who like stories and putting pieces of information together in new ways need to take this course.  Need reasons? Okay, here are a few.

This course makes you think about your family in ways that traditional genealogy may not. While you may have thought, in a roundabout way, about what your ancestors lives may have been like, I bet you didn’t do it like we learned in this class.  Did you ever think about various influences that could affect their decisions? Or how about the cultural cues or biases they had and how that effected their American born children?

My upbringing certainly influenced the ways I raise my children just like the way my parents were raised influenced my childhood.  Going through the stories again and again, listening to different perspectives, and looking at the family through the documents it was easy to see how and why this happened. The immigrant ancestor was still present in many ways; they were still affecting in subtle ways how their descendants behaved decades later.

In this faster paced world where fewer people seem to have the time to sit and chat a while learning about the family mythology is also changing.  I learned about my family from listening to the stories my parents and grandparents told me. My kids, while learning the same stories from me, are also learning about their ancestors through the Internet and other resources.  Which is why I think taking a course on learning about the family myth is so very important. I can pass family stories on in person or via the web, reaching more cousins than I possibly could even 20 years ago.

Combining all these thoughts, lessons, perspectives, and stories together is a good thing in my opinion. It can only make our knowledge of our heritage sounder.  Think of all the amazing information you can discover when looking at something ordinary and mundane in a different light. I bet you will find something new!

Well off to the next course, see you online!

By Shannon Bennett, Student

Image courtesy of nuttakit/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Well I am almost done. Really digging into the meat and potatoes of the Demystifying Culture and Folklore course now. Plus, we discuss one of my favorite mythologists, Joseph Campbell. Ah, hero myths, we should all be familiar with that concept thanks to Star Wars and Harry Potter.

Now, before you go away and start thinking that I am going off the deep end and there is no way we can draw comparisons between family stories and a classic hero myth, let me tell you that you are wrong.  You can. Legends, myths, and folklore don’t have to be old. They also don’t have to be false. You can find them in your own history and this last section of the course shows you how.

We learn that “the hero is one who develops his/her skill, talent, etc. and takes the journey to prove that part of his/her life; then returns to the community (or family) to use the lessons learned to better the group.” I am sure many of you can think of an ancestor who would fall into that description. For myself I can think of several.

Most of my hero ancestors were immigrants or those who left what they knew in a colony and ventured further west into unexplored territories. Think about those people. What they left behind and what they had to overcome. They just didn’t go out there did they? Most of them had a skill or trade that was useful or there was a steep learning curve so they could survive. Those who immigrated usually settled in a community like theirs from where they came from. Those who went first had their community come to them. They lived the hero’s life.

Then those stories were passed onto us, their descendants. They became legends and people in our family folklore. Characters to teach us lessons, show us strength, and influence who we would become.  Think for a minute about stories you were told as a child about your family. How did they shape you? Do you do things now because of the family mythos? I bet if you think hard enough you can find several examples.

For me I think about the few stories I know of my immigrant ancestors. They were German and Irish men and women escaping hard times at home. Many already had family groups here before they sailed.  Some did not. Those who didn’t toiled to make their new country a home in any way possible. Those stories of hard work and perseverance were passed to my parents and were passed to me. Maybe, that is where I get the double dose of stubborn from.

Whew, off to take my exam.  See you online!