How do I index place names when a former name is included
I have searched for this answer with no luck, and the Indexing and Reviewing instructions don't seem to address this specific circumstance. I have come across several forms that list a country's former designation after the "current" one. I have attached a batch as an example. The one I see the most, however, is "Poland, formerly Russia".
Do I include Russia as part of the place name, perhaps after a comma or in parenthesis? I am figuring that it was included in their document because the former country was the proper name when the person was born, so it seems logical to include it, but I'm not certain.
Thanks!
Best Answer
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How do I index place names when a former name is included: US, New York—Naturalization Records, 1820–1991 [Part B][M3HJ-T37
Image 2 on this batch- This one says person was born in "Jablonowa, Mackowinta, Poland, formerly Russia". Assuming the former designation was the name when the person was born, it should be indexed as Russia, correct?
Our internal department has analyzed the question and the situation- that appeared in these documents and may continue to appear in others:
The Field Help for Birthplace says “Separate geographical levels of locality, from smallest to largest, with a comma.” Following the field help, the birthplace could be indexed as Jablonowa, Mackowinta, Poland, Russia, because Russia is the largest geographical locality, and Poland was not a separate country at the time of the individual’s birth. We do type what is shown on the document.
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Answers
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In your batch, image 1 says born in "Budatin Hungary Now Czechoslovakia".
I would index that: Budatin, Hungary. The comment that it's now (that was 1932) Czechoslovakia is interesting but it's not the birthplace. A researcher will see this comment and other unindexed information since the Project Instructions tell us "the completed index and links to digital images will be freely accessible online to the general public when the collection is published."
You are correct that we don't have specific guidance on this in the Project Instructions and Field Help.
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Dellory, Thank you for your response. I found another example, which I see the most.
This one says "Jablonowa, Mackowinta, Poland, formerly Russia". Assuming the former designation was the name when the person was born, it should be indexed as Russia, correct?
Thank you again,
Jessica 😊
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The place of birth to be indexed is : Jablonowa, Mackowinta, Poland ?
The internal department direction is the following:
You would type what you see, Jablonowa, Mackowinta, Poland, formerly Russia.
Thank you for your question.
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I can't open that batch. Did you submit it already?
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Ah, yes, I did. I got an answer about that record specifically and submitted it. That answer has actually been edited since then.... I would still like your opinion on it, though, since you had a logical reason for your answer for my first example.
Also, do you know why an above answer is marked as "accepted"? Who marked it as accepted? I figured I would be the only person to do that, once I felt my question had been completely answered. ??
Thank you!
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Mods can mark an answer as the accepted answer especially if there have been multiple posts with varying and conflicting answers. In this case FGGM researched the answer and got an official response so by marking it as best answer it is moved to the top of the posts so that the other incorrect posts are not seen first. A good attempt was made to answer the post by several people but conflicted with each other. That is why further research was done.
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