Transcription Guidelines

If you're transcribing your grandparents' WWII love letters, you might be doing transcription out of a labor of love. If your work is for a colleague or a client, you'll need to establish some parameters for your work. What kinds of projects do you accept (scope, time period, language, etc.)? What should your client expect from your working relationship?

Project scope is a key consideration before getting started. How much material is involved? A handful of letters is much less time-consuming than a banker's box crammed with travel journals. How much time do you estimate your project will take? If you're sharing an estimate with a client, you'll want to give yourself plenty of time to plan, organize, and complete your project.

Every transcription project is a new opportunity to learn more about the art of handwriting. Even a shopping list can provide insights into how an individual crafts letters and numbers in different combinations. If you are new to transcription, try your "hand" (get it?) at transcribing something recent (last 25 years or so), short, and in your native language. As you gain confidence in your new skillset, challenge yourself to work with documents that are older, longer, and in additional languages. For people working with Catholic church records, Latin is a valuable second language to acquire.

Whether you consider yourself high tech or a luddite, you'll inevitably find yourself needing to "test" possible transcriptions. A few simple supplies are all you need.

Pencils

Especially when working with larger amounts of text, it's a good idea to hand copy sample letters into a complete alphabetical and numerical directory for each person's handwriting. Soft lead will keep your notations clean and easy to erase as needed.

Paper

Lined paper is best for writing out sample letters and numbers. Believe it or not, the best choice is handwriting paper with guide lines. If you can't find any at your local office supply store, try this FREE printable guide line sheet from Madison Paper. 

Folders

If you're storing original documents only a short while, generic manila folders from any office supply store will do. If, however, you're storing original documents long-term, it's worth researching better quality materials. "Acid-free" on its own carries about as much weight as the phrase "natural flavors" (I'm looking at you, flavored sparkling water companies). Instead, look for "acid-free AND lignin-free."

What you're storing matters as much as how long you're storing it. For example, different photographic materials have their own needs when it comes to storage. You can find more information from specialty retailers such as Gaylord Archival or Light Impressions.

You don't have to break the bank to create an awesome digital workspace. You can log your transcriptions in Google Docs, and store screenshots and PDFs of primary source documents in Google Drive.

Label and date everything.

If it's part of your project, it gets a label. If it's not part of your project, move it elsewhere so your workspace is free of clutter. HOWEVER...

Avoid writing directly on primary source documents.

Unless you're holding a photocopy in your hands, have the document creator's permission, or are using very specific writing utensils that are approved for such use, place each document in its own labeled file folder.

Be consistent.

If you label one file by creator's name ("LastName, FirstName") and format the date as "Day Mon. Year" (e.g., 15 Jun 1874), label every file this way. It's your project, so choose a scheme that speaks to you and don't deviate from it. Ordering files that are labeled uniformly will save you tons of headaches later on!

At minimum, type out the name of the document Creator, Brief Description, and Date. Many different arrangements of these elements are possible. Here are just a few examples:

• Example 1: LastName, FirstName--Description--Day Mo. Year

  • Document: a letter from Jane Doe to John Doe, written on October 23, 1765

  • Folder label: Doe, Jane--letter to John Doe--23 Oct 1765

• Example 2: LastName, FirstName--Description--Year Month Day

  • Document: a travel diary written in England by Jim Smith between June 3 and August 10, 1893

  • Folder label: Smith, Jim--England travel diary--1893 June 3-August 10

• Example 3: Description--LastName, FirstName--mm/dd/yyyy

  • Document: a photographic postcard from Jane Smith to Mabel, dated March 13, 1946

  • Folder label: Photographic postcard to Mabel--Smith, Jane--03/13/1946

If none of these formats speak to you, that's okay! Devise your own scheme and stick to it.

Develop a file naming scheme that mirrors your analog file naming scheme as closely as possible. This can't be stressed enough. If every PDF document has a random name, even a literal elephant might forget which file is which. Depending on the program you use to store files, special characters like the forward slash ("/") might not be allowed.

As with analog files, at minimum, include the name of the document Creator, a Brief Description, and Date of Creation. Your date should be formatted Year-Month-Day so that files with otherwise identical names can be ordered chronologically. For single-digit days and months, include a "0" placeholder to keep your files in order. Instead of leaving spaces between words, group phrases together by category, place an underscore between logical phrases, and capitalize the first letter of each word (e.g., LastNameFirstName or ItemDescription).

Let's say you have all of Jane Doe's correspondence, written 1931-1975. Here are some examples documents and how their descriptions translate to file names:

• Document 1: letter from Jane Doe to John Doe, dated May 3, 1931

  • File name: DoeJane_LetterTo_DoeJohn_1931-05-03

• Document 2: letter from Jane Doe to John Doe, dated August 10, 1943

  • File name: DoeJane_LetterTo_DoeJohn_1943-08-10

• Document 3: letter from John Doe to Jane Doe, dated February 10, 1933

  • File name: DoeJohn_LetterTo_DoeJane_1933-02-10

No matter where I store these files, if I arrange them alphabetically, I will be able to see all letters from Jane to John chronologically, and all letters from John to Jane chronologically. If I want all letters to fit a single chronology, I would swap the creator name and date like so:

• 1931-05-03_DoeJane_LetterTo_DoeJohn

• 1933-02-10_DoeJohn_LetterTo_DoeJane

• 1943-08-10_DoeJane_LetterTo_DoeJohn

It all depends on what information you want to prioritize. There is no single right way! Just remember to stay consistent.