"Do not use outside resources to verify locality spellings"
In the directions for starting a new indexing project, it often states, "Do not use outside resources to verify locality spellings." Does that mean we are to use the spelling on the image and not make corrections? For example, if a county in Ireland is spelled "Roscomman" on the image, we do not refer to the internet for the correct spelling, and then spell it correctly, "Roscommon"? In other words, is this similar to the rule of typing names exactly as they appear on the image?
Best Answer
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It depends on the specific project. The ones that I work on don't include any placename fields in the indexing, so the question is moot.
For projects that do call for correcting the placename if able, I don't think it's wrong to verify what you believe to be correct by using whatever outside resource you'd like. In fact, I think that if you do correct a placename, you should look it up: maybe the spelling you've always thought to be correct is actually a widespread error. (I'd rather an uncorrected placename than a "miscorrected" one, but an actually-correct placename is preferable to either.)
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If you know what the spelling is, without outside sources like Google, you correct it. From the Field Help:
You should expand abbreviations or correct misspellings when you can tell what the abbreviation stands for or what the correction should be to the spelling.
Ex: I recently reviewed a Petition for Naturalization where the spouse was born in Carlenville, Illinois. I live about an hour north of Carlinville, so I know that Carlenville is actually spelled Carlinville.0
