Indexing US City Directories

AWmson

The last names on left side of the second page are unreadable. When the pages were scanned the book was not pressed down and a thick black line covers the last names. How do I index these individuals? Is the last name left blank?

erutherford

Honestly? Return it and someone else might be able to index it.

David Alan Webber

That is the most reasonable answer for 99% of us when running into that particular situation. Is there a procedure for when a batch is returned multiple times because of an issue such as this?

I refrain from making any harsh judgments on the original photographer of the files, as I'm picturing someone in a dusty, dark room, desperately attempting to move 130 year old pages into position without having them fall apart, doing this many hours a day for weeks or months on end.

erutherford

It's probably because these directories are 90+ years ago and paper that old tends to fade. I have a little bank-type book from 1919 and while still legible, moving the pages takes a bit of an effort since the binding likes to crack. My grandmother's adoption papers are from 1924, on onion paper and are very well-worn (from the years of being tri-folded) in spots.

maryellenstevensbarnes1

I just finished indexing an almost unreadable batch by inverting the image to black with white letters then adjusting the brightness and contrast - worked out just fine — please I hope a reviewer doesn't inadvertently undo all my work 😎