TIP OF THE WEEK –
INDEX WASHINGTON STATE RECORDS

The Historical Records Project (HRP) for the Washington State Archives has been around for a while. Millions of records have already been transcribed and indexed, which makes them easily accessible to researchers and genealogists. But countless records still need to be done. Volunteers are the lifeline for this project.  So that’s where you come in! 

Scribe is the online application for entering this data. To volunteer to help you simply Register and Set Up your account, pick which record collection you’d like to work on, and start transcribing. It’s quick and easy. You work on this from the comfort of your own home, at your own pace. Do as many or as few records as you want, quit, and then pick it up again on another day. 

Washington Delayed Birth Records is one of the collections that need transcribing and this is a good record collection to start on. They tend to be easy to read. The image of the document appears on the left of your screen. On the right of your screen is the form into which you enter the child’s first, middle, and last name, gender, birth date, father’s first, middle, and last name, mother’s first, middle, and last name. Save the form. Check it over. Here’s your opportunity to Edit if you’ve made a mistake. Once it looks good, hit Finish for that record.  

Read the ten page “The Users’ Guide to Scribe”  found here: 
https://www.sos.wa.gov/archives/hrp/scribe-user-guide-final.pdf

Pay particular attention to the rules. They are on page 6. Here’s a visual reminder to print and keep at hand while you are transcribing: 

Any one of these rules is bound to come up early on.

Simply remember if a required item is missing enter the word blank.
But if the item is not required leave the space empty.

Don’t use prefix titles. Don’t use suffix titles. Don’t use punctuation.

So ignore Mr, Mrs, Miss, Sr, Jr, Dr, CPA, Esq, etc. As an example : Mr. John M. Doe, Sr, PhD becomes John M Doe. 

If you can help out and would like to Scribe, register here:
https://scribe.digitalarchives.wa.gov/