Mexico - Civil Registration - rule for when records span multiple images?
So I'm reviewing https://www.familysearch.org/indexing/batch/29114e89-b6da-413c-9989-a02720e5e163 , but I've seen this a lot...
These Spanish-language civil registers are written longhand in a notebook, sometimes multiple entries to a page, sometimes spanning multiple pages, generally beginning "Acta número number", or else with that part in the margin and the actual entry as such beginning "En place á time". Often an entry starts at the middle of, or even near the end of, one page, and then continues to the next. Do we index on the page where the entry starts? Or on the page were the "bulk"of the information is? Is there a special rule where the reference images show that the prior page is actually missing or unreadable?
In this particular case, entry 39 starts on the last image before the batch, but there are just eight lines of it on that page; then thirty-two lines on the first image of the batch, and fourteen on the second image. So my inclination would be to mark the first image as "No Extractable Data" under the assumption that entry 39 was indexed in the prior batch. But I don't want to leave that entry unindexed if the prior batch didn't include it!
And I've even seen cases where only the first line of an entry was on the page where it started.
Best Answer
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Hi @davidleelambert,
Thank you for indexing these beautifully written records.
Your instincts on indexing this batch are correct; since Entry 39 begins on your Reference Image -1 and continues for all of your Image 1 you would mark your Image 1 as "No, No Extractable Data". You would begin indexing Entry 40 on your Image 2, which ends on your Reference Image +1. If Entry 40 had started on your Image 1, then you would not mark in "NED", but start with entry 40 and not index any of the information before that entry as Entry 39 began on a previous image.
I know this seems scary, but anytime there are multiple pages and the beginning of a record is on a Minus (-) Reference Image, you would not index that record.
If the record you are indexing continues to Next Images in your Reference Images, you would continue for as many images as it takes to finish the entry.
The following is information you can find in this project by opening the Project Instructions (last icon to the right on the icon toolbar) and scrolling down to General Indexing Guidelines:
What to Do When Records Span 2 Images or to View Additional Images
- If the first record on an image begins on a previous image, don't index it. The record will be indexed as part of the previous batch. Start indeng at the first complete record.
- If the last record on an image continues to the next image, index the entire record, including what continues to the next image.
This instruction goes on to show how to use the Reference Images, which you already know how to do.
Good luck with your continued efforts in making these records available to others.
Linda
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