Co-Lab: Crowdsourcing at the Archives of Ontario

Letter from Sir Wilfred Laurier

This is very cool! Crowdsourcing has arrived at Library and Archives Canada (LAC). We genealogists, historians, and anyone interested in our Canadian past  can now transcribe, add keywords and image tags, translate content from an image or document and add descriptions to digitized images using Co-Lab and the new Collection Search^BETA.

LAC is offering challenges, which are theme-based, to make this opportunity even more interesting.  One of their current challenges involves transcribing Correspondence between Sir Robert Borden and Sir Sam Hughes in 1916. A second is to transcribe the 61 pages of love letters from Wilfred Laurier, the 7th Prime Minister of Canada, to his sweetheart and future wife between 1863 and 1890.

Now's your chance to contribute to preserving the past and helping to make these historical records available to all.

Read more about this venture at Introducing Co-Lab: your tool to collaborate on historical records

FindAGrave Volunteer Accidentally Damages Tombstones

Damaged Tombstones Scrubbed With Wire Brush

One of Tennessee's oldest church cemeteries had several tombstones permanently damaged recently. A FindAGrave volunteer is suspected of damaging several historic graves with a wire brush  at the New Providence Presbyterian Church on Stoney Point Road in Surgoinsville

When questioned the man told police he wanted to get a better photo of the inscriptions on the tombstones for people who had requested photos. After scrubbing the stones and taking his photos, he uploaded them to the FindAGrave website.

The dark stain that builds up on tombstones over time was scrubbed clean in streaks over the engravings, and in some cases the engravings were rubbed almost smooth — to the point that the words are no longer legible. The cemetery reports that the damage cannot be repaired.

This was an incredibly thoughtless act by a volunteer. It was done out of good intentions but it was a serious error in judgement, and the results were disastrous. But has FindAGrave made it clear to volunteers how tombstones are to be treated? I went to the FindAGrave.com website to see what warnings or instructions are online for those taking photos. In their FAQ page there is a link to an article "How do I clean a headstone or grave marker?" under the topic Cemetery Preservation. However the link to that article is six screens down the page! Most people are not going to scroll down and read that far. 

Had this volunteer read the article, he would have seen "Unless you are related to the interred on the headstone in question, DO NOT do anything to the headstone. Gravestones should never be cleaned with anything but water and a soft brush. Slate gravestones from the Revolutionary era and Pre-revolutionary era are best left alone due to their delicate nature and tendency to erode. Never apply bleach, ammonia, shaving cream, chalk, flour, baking soda, cornstarch, firm pressure or use anything abrasive." [this is part of the article from FindAGrave.com]


I personally think their instructions give a mixed message and are confusing. The first sentence says don't do anything if you aren't a relative. Then it goes on to provide information on how best to do something! (cleaning).  Far better to keep these instructions simple and placed prominently on the website where volunteers will see them. The instructions should, in my opinion, be better worded.

I might have said  "Do NOT attempt to clean headstones. Leave all tombstones untouched"

K.I.S.S. is always a good practice to follow.

 
Read the rest of this story at 'Person of interest' identified in case of damaged historic gravestones at Hawkins church

Woman Devotes 7 Years to Documenting Burials in Forgotten Cemetery

Charlotte Thompson has spent the last seven years identifying the inhabitants of 112 unmarked graves in Whitewood Cemetery, Meade County South Dakota. When Charlotte first became interested in the cemetery, she was told there were 400 graves but so far she has found over 1,100. That number does not include the unidentified graves.

To date Mrs. Thompson has identified 92 of the unmarked graves and there are more to be researched. Her love of history has helped her and she learned the origins of the cemetery

“The original story was a woman and her grandson died on their way through the Black Hills in a covered wagon, so they buried them on the hill east of Whitewood. Then people started having other burials there. The city ended up opening the cemetery on 10 acres there in 1897.”

Now Mrs. Thompson is asking for help. She needs volunteers to transcribe the file drawer full of the records she has compiled.

Continue reading Whitewood woman uncovers a cemetery's secrets