Conflicting spellings?

J.A. Smith

I'm working on Mexican burial records. The name is listed twice, once in the margin and once in the text. It is spelled differently in each place (Mendizabal vs. Mendisabal). Which spelling should I index? I'm inclined to go with the former, since Mexicans pronounce "z" as "s" and the latter is likely a phonetic error.

John Empoliti

Hi @J A Smith

You usually index both variations with an Or between them.

Check your Project Instructions (PI), Field Help (purple question mark when you click on a field) for the Name fields, and the General Indexing Guidelines (GIG). In the GIG (last section of the PI, under Alias Names you should find something like:

Alias Names

If alias names were included on a document, or if an individual's name was listed with various spellings on the document, include all variants, separating each with the word Or. For example, if a name was written as "Georgios (George), George Broski, George Browzowski, or George Brzozowski," index the name fields as follows:

• Given Name: Georgios Or George
• Surname: Broski Or Browzowski Or Brzozowski

Mirevo

Thank you four question, please share the batch code to be able to see what are you referring to.

Áine Ní Donnghaile

Is the name in the margin in the same handwriting as the record? I've seen many registers where the margin notes were added later, as a form of soft indexing - to make it easier to find the name within the block of text. If that is the case in this register, then I would use the "original" - the name in the record, not the name in the margin.

J.A. Smith

Thanks, John. I wasn't thinking of it as an alias, but that clears it up.

Aine, it is the same handwriting. It is, as you say, more of an index than an annotation. But it was clearly part of the original.

I appreciate the help, guys.