Is there spacing for state abbreviations

pjspeck

I am not sure how to list N.Y. I know that I take out the periods, but do I place a space in between the letters (N Y) or keep them together (NY). I am working on the New York Index to Land Records and it is part of the Grantor's company name.

Tom123

Either way will work. I normally do not put a space between state initials.

John Empoliti

I couldn't find any current specific guidance on that issue. Current advice on punctuation refers indexers to the Project Instructions and Field Helps.:

For detailed punctuation help, be sure to check the project instructions and field helps for the current batch you are working on. 

I believe that we used to remove the resulting spaces, but that seems almost like creating an abbreviation. I suggest that you either leave the periods or replace them with a space. Look at the following two sentences from the field Help for the Grantor Corporation or Organization. The first sentence is a vote for typing what you see, and the second is a vote for leaving spaces in place of those periods (taking a parenthesis as a proxy for a period).

Type the full grantor corporation or organization name as it was written. Do not correct misspellings or expand abbreviations.

If an ampersand (&) or plus symbol (+) was written on a document as a part of information that should normally be indexed, in place of these symbols, type the word And. If parentheses were used, include a space instead of the parentheses.

Susan Ann Mullen

I put the space between so that it auto capitalizes the Letters. This is one of those things where the computer just does not care.

John Empoliti

Food for thought - perhaps Family Search should consider clarifying/revising the guidance on punctuation.

NEW GUIDANCE ON PUNCTUATION ;

Here right below is the current "guidance" on punctuation. Basically, there is NO guidance - it refers you to the Project Instructions and the Field Helps. However, in the New York Index to Land Records Projects there is NO direct guidance on punctuation (that I could find). So, what do we do now, besides what I mentioned in my previous comment?

How should I index punctuation?

Article Id: 1654

April 20, 2020

Some punctuation is necessary to include, and some is not. Each project has unique requirements. For detailed punctuation help, be sure to check the project instructions and field helps for the current batch you are working on. 

OLD GUIDANCE ON PUNCTUATION: From the old 2017 Basic Indexing Guidelines:

This below used to be the general guidance on punctuation and abbreviations:.

General Guidelines 

Punctuation 

No punctuation should be included except apostrophes or hyphens when they were written as part of a name or place-name. 

NOTE from JE: I'm including the old section below on Abbreviations only because it is referenced in the old Punctuation section above.

Abbreviations

Names 

DO NOT spell out a name that was abbreviated. 

Type names as they were written, excluding punctuation except hyphens or apostrophes when they were written as part of the name. 

Places 

If a place-name was misspelled and you can determine the correct spelling, correct the mistake, unless otherwise directed in the project instructions or field helps. 

If a place-name was abbreviated and you can determine what the abbreviation stands for, type the complete name instead of the abbreviation, unless otherwise directed in the project instructions or field helps. Use the lookup list for assistance. 

When you are not sure what an abbreviation stands for, type what was written, excluding punctuation except hyphens or apostrophes when they were written as part of the place-name.