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Obituary Project
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Obituary Project Guidelines
This project will endeavor to provide transcriptions of public domain obituary indexes and obituaries. Copyrighted materials for which written permission has been obtained may be included as well. Also current obituaries (after 1949) may be extracted. (Form to use for extraction is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/obits/extract.txt). Transcripts, extracts and abstracts will be accepted and files will be placed in the USGenWeb Archives directory of the State and County of principal residence of the Person designated in the obituary.

State Coordinator Guidelines

  • Required (Mandatory)

    • Answer Roll-Call.  It will be done quarterly, starting in January.  If you don't reply, it will be assumed that you are no longer available.

    • Project Coordinator must be notified of any and all e-mail changes of State Coordinator's that pertain to the State site.

  • The following links are required for all state pages:

  • The following links are optional for all state pages:

    • Example form to use for extraction is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/obits/extract.txt.

    • SUBMISSION FORMS: These forms at http://www.genrecords.org/ allow you to type your record and submit it. This will create a file in a format acceptable for XXGenWeb Archives and ready for posting. These forms are not mandatory and if you have data already typed please send it in text format to the XXGenWeb Archives File Manager or the XX Obituary Project File Manager. If your state isn't listed you will have to submit the information to the XXGenWeb Archives File Manager or the XXGenWeb Archives Obituary Project File Manager.

  • Responsibilities include maintaining the Obits Project web page for your state, responding to emails from researchers and volunteers, formatting submitted obits for upload, and coordinating with USGenWeb Archives File Managers to upload submitted files to the appropriate location. If you don't get a response from the Archives File Manager do notify me.

  • Links to learning html code

    • When maintaing your obits project web page some knowledge of HTML is needed. The following links can teach prospective volunteers 'how to do it' and demonstrates how Easy it really is to learn. Advanced information is listed for those daring volunteers who choose to go beyond the basics. Have fun!

  • It is optional for a state coordinator to contact newspapers for permission and to complete transcriptions of their own.

  • It is recommended that a state coordinator join appropriate Rootsweb mailing lists for their state to inform researchers of the project and offer the opportunity to participate.

  • Coordinators are not lookup volunteers.  This may be a common request from researchers.  It is recommended that you reply to these requests by suggesting an appropriate resource to them. The Tips for Locating an Obituary Page is an excellent reference.

  • Links to newspaper websites may be included as a courtesy if the newspaper has agreed to participate in the project.  Other links should be referred to the appropriate USGenWeb State/County page as a resource link.

  • At a minimal, be expected to devote two hours a week to this project as a state coordinator.

After reading the guidelines please contact us to sign up.


Transcriber Guidelines

  • Uploaded files will be in a text format (.txt).  This is the recommended format that files should be submitted. 

  • Please use font type 'Courier New', size 10pt (plain text).  Avoid using tabs, as columns do not always line up correctly in all browsers when tabs are used.

  • Full obit transcriptions will only be accepted from newspapers that have given permission or those in the Public Domain (ie., pre-1923).  Please help the project by contacting newspaper to ask their permission.  This sample letter should be helpful.

  • If you can't get permission for submission from a newspaper and it's not in the public domain you can use a form to extract the information. (An example form to use for extraction is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/obits/extract.txt.)

  • Indexes should include facts only.  Suggested columns include; name of deceased, date of death, place of interment, date of newspaper and name of newspaper.

    • Submitting Files

    • How to Submit Files to the USGenWeb Archives Project is listed at http://www.usgwarchives.net/contrib.htm.

    • For submission we have submission forms for some states. SUBMISSION FORMS: These forms at http://www.genrecords.org/ allow you to type your record and submit it. This will create a file in a format acceptable for XXGenWeb Archives and ready for posting. These forms are not mandatory and if you have data already typed please send it in text format to the XXGenWeb Archives File Manager or the XX Obituary Project File Manager. If your state isn't listed you will have to submit the information to the XXGenWeb Archives File Manager or the XX Obituary Project File Manager.

    • Completed files should be submitted to the appropriate state coordinator.  If the state is up for adoption, please send to the Obituary Project Coordinator.

    • Include the following as the heading for each file submitted:

    • When linking files they should read http://files (this freezes some computer's and loads very slowly on others).

 

Obits: newspaper name, date of transcribed obits, county and state 

Copyright � 200x by Your Name. This copy contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives. <your@email.address>

 

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Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm 

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Become an Archivist

Being responsible for a county or state in the USGenWeb Archives is an important job and we do need volunteers. There are very few rules but they are important ones.

  • The Tables of Contents (TOCs) must be UPDATED on a regular basis. Regular means every time a new file is uploaded or at least once a month. Most TOCs are already set up with the required components. ASK before you remove anything.

  • The files must be MANAGED according to the USGenWeb Archives Project Guidelines. Files may NOT be removed, renamed or changed from/in the Archives without the permission of the State File Manager. Remember that every change made affects more pages than just the TOC.

  • You must have the TIME to tend to these responsibilities.

  • You cannot "give away" a county or state. If you resign your position, the responsibility for the county or state returns to the State File Manager or the Archives Coordinator.


Basic FTP Guide



This page was last revised Monday, 15-Nov-2021 22:28:37 EST

Obituary Archives Project Coordinator -

Special Projects Representative

Rebecca Maloney