The Rebecca Gratz Digital Collection: Transcription Protocols & Editorial Methodology

At first glance, it seems like an easy task to read a letter written in English and type it up to transcribe the content and make it searchable. But when the author was writing 150 years ago, they were bound to use different abbreviations, spelling, and refer to people and events unknown to us today. These were among the challenges faced by Julie Fisher and Nina Warnke as they prepared the Rebecca Gratz materials for the digital collection. 

Warnke and Fisher chose a semi-diplomatic approach to transcription; i.e., they did not fix capitalization or spelling to fit modern conventions (as a diplomatic approach might), but they also did not preserve the original spacing and formatting, as the original image of the letter is also accessible to users. This way, readers can get a sense of the style of the 18th-19th century authors while maintaining the legibility of a type-written text. 

Each letter receives a first initial transcription by one of the editors, followed by a second read through by the same editor. The third pass employs an oral tandem proofing process with two editors. In addition to the thorough transcription process, key information such as author, recipient, and date, is pulled out as metadata to aid the accessibility and searchability of texts. Approximated dates appear in brackets. The address, if known, is listed at the end of the transcription.  

Transcription Principals: 

The overall goal is to make the texts as accessible, legible, and discoverable as possible. Here are some of the specific choices made by the editors to preserve the source and its legibility to a modern audience: 

• Illegible or missing text, either generated by the author crossing it out or due to physical damage to the page (such as ink smudges, torn or missing paper, etc.), is represented with three periods enclosed by brackets, such as [ … ].
• When the editors are not completely sure about a word, that word is included in brackets with a question mark. For example, “She employed a [thorough?] examination.”
• When editors are sure about a word or phrase due to context, but elements of that word are effaced, the word is put in brackets without a question mark. For example: "[writing] to her."

• Punctuation, capitalization, and spelling were not yet standardized in this period and varied based on the author’s education and style. 

  • The editors have kept most of the original style and wording of the authors. 

  • When spelling, capitalization, or punctuation is unclear, the editors employ modern conventions to improve readability. 

  • The editors keep original abbreviations where possible (for example, “yrs” for yours) but add full words in brackets where the abbreviations would be unfamiliar to most readers (such as “[dearest]” for derst). 

  • The long “s,” as a special letter, was still in use in the nineteenth century. This “s” is rendered as a standardized “s” in the transcriptions.  

  • Insertions and superscript are added into the mainline of the text. 

• Deletions appear in brackets. If the text is still legible, it is crossed out. 

• Text in the margins and post scripts are rendered to follow the logical progression the writer intended. 

Editorial work that informs this methodology includes: 
The Adams Papers Editorial Project 
The Jane Addams Papers Project 
The Civil War & Reconstruction Governors of Mississippi 
The Julian Bond Papers Project