15 January 2014

Mother Was a Hard Worker

Transcribing documents is often about context. Analysis should not be done in a vacuum. 

This image makes that point crystal clear. It certainly looks like "worker" on the superficial analysis
.


But it is not. It's taken out of context from this document from probate records in the Bronx, New York.

It's not "worker." It's "mother." 

Is that how you read it in the first box?

There are indexes and finding aids that are created by individuals viewing materials and images out of context.

It never hurts to think about how something could be transcribed if it were viewed in isolation.