Iowa Seed Catalogs

Transcription conventions

• Spelling: Use original spelling. You may correct a misspelled word by typing the correctly spelled word in brackets after the misspelling: werk [work].
 
• Capitalization: Use original spelling unless all caps—then, modernize for readability.
• Punctuation: Add modern periods, but don't add in punctuation like commas and apostrophes. Do not transcribe hyphens or spaces in words that occur at line breaks. Our goal is to provide text for searching and accessibility/readability.
• Line breaks: Hit return once after each line ends. Two returns indicate a new paragraph, which is usually indicated by an indentation in the original.  Do not transcribe hyphens or spaces in words that occur at line breaks. Our goal is to provide text for searching.
• Formatting: Don’t worry about formatting (e.g. underline, italic, bold, spacing, superscript, bullets, alignment, etc.). Treat multiple columns as singular column of text. Where necessary, indicate columns as [left column], [middle column], [right column].
• Illegible text: Indicate illegible text as [illegible]. If you spot [illegible] in an already started transcription, feel free to correct it if you know what the word is. If you aren’t sure of a word but want to take a guess, type your guess with square brackets and a question mark: [Carver?]. If you have an idea about what the word might be but can’t make it out, indicate the type of word you think it is in brackets: [town?] or [name?]. Click Needs Review atop page for someone to review.
• Images and figures: Indicate images, illustrations, figures, etc., in brackets, e.g. [image]. Indicate multiple items in one area of the text with [images]. Optionally, describe contents to enhance accessibility for visually-impaired.
• Contact us with specific questions or issues.