Request for Clarification on Obituary Project Instructions

John Empoliti

As of today, October 17, 2021, there are three outstanding obituary projects: (1) US, Missouri, Various Counties— Obituaries, 1880–1990 (2) US, Minnesota, Brown County—Obituaries, 1855–1990 (3) US, Minnesota, Douglas County—Obituaries, 1860–1990

These three projects comprise different kinds of death notices but generally have similar "obituary-type" Project Instructions except to address document types perhaps unique to a project. However, as @Melissa S Himes and others have pointed out, the Missouri Project Instructions and Field Helps have some significant differences from the two Minnesota projects. Would the Moderators please get official clarification or "rulings" on these issues? Below is a comparison of the ones I'm particularly concerned about:

I'm going to structure my concerns as questions: BTW - unfortunately, we don't have the benefit of older (2014-era) detailed instructions that might address how we handled these issues then and should now. I'm asking for the current official policy on these issues.

A: "Other" Prefix: The two Minnesota Projects are silent on terms such as "Reverend" and "Pastor." So, for the two Minnesota projects, may we conclude, for "Other" type Entries, that it is OK to index those Prefixes and ones like "Judge" or "Mayor?" And how about Military Titles?" These all precede the name, and so are Prefixes.

B: "Deceased" Prefix: There is no restriction similar to the one for the "Other" Prefix, even (or maybe especially) in the Missouri Project. So, may we make the same conclusion as above, but for all three projects,i.e., we should index any Prefix (no matter the form) for the Deceased as is?

C: Multiple Obituaries for the same person: The two Minnesota projects are silent on this issue. So, may we conclude that we should combine the information from multiple obituaries from those two projects for the same person?

Thanks.

CHold

@John Empoliti

Your question will be forwarded to the indexing team for review and assistance. You may be contacted by that team if they need more information.

John Empoliti

Thanks, @CHold .