Difference between revisions of "Necrology and Obituaries"

Latest revision as of 14:01, 8 July 2014

Redirect to:

Necrology

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+#REDIRECT[[Necrology]]
-For many years, we have had volunteers abstracting obituaries from the newspapers.  He would include the name of the deceased, date of death, newspaper, date of newspaper, and page number.  Several other volunteers took the abstracted information and entered it into the computer.  Obituary index books were printed and bound.  The books were divided by decades.  Within each book, the list of obituaries is in alphabetical order by surname.  In bound form, we have the following years:
-{|
-|-
-|| * 1890&ndash;1899|| * 1940&ndash;1949
-|-
-|| * 1900&ndash;1919|| * 1950&ndash;1959
-|-
-|| * 1920&ndash;1929|| * 1960&ndash;1969
-|-
-|| * 1930&ndash;1939||
-|}
-Two other notebooks were labeled “Old Obituaries.”  However, most of these were from the 1950s-1960s.  These notebooks included copies of the actual obituaries.  The index to these notebooks was at one time in the card catalog.
-No comprehensive index in book form exists for the years prior to 1890 or after 1970.
-The 1970s and 1980s were not entered into the computer.  We have copies of the actual obituaries in binders, a separate binder for each year.  These obituaries were primarily from the Daily Record.  There were several different volunteers who clipped the obituaries and placed them in notebook form.  As a result, some include the death date while others include the newspaper date.  Most of these binders have an index.  We have noticed that over the years, pages have come up missing, or we have discovered that several obituaries were missed when the notebook was compiled.
-The index to the obituaries from 1989-1999 are in two notebooks.  Each year is divided by a tab.  These obituaries had been entered into the computer.
-In 2000, we moved our obituary index online.  It was now searchable by name for anyone with Internet access to use.  We were using Cold Fusion at the time.  We were unable to host it ourselves because we would crash the system.  We had to pay an outside company to host the database for us.  At the time we went online, we had obituaries from the 1930s, 1940s, and the year 2000.  As our D-Base indexes were converted to Access, more years became available online.  Staff in the department would spend many hours doing data entry and cleaning up the database from where the conversion was not a clean conversion.
-The initial online index could be searched only by last name or by last and first name.  It could not be limited by year.  No wildcard features were available.  The results would include the date of death of the deceased (if known), name of the newspaper, date of newspaper, and page number.  In addition, the library’s Technology Associate, Tom Belanger, would need to upload the updated obituary index periodically.
-In 2003, we found out about an organization trying to implement a statewide obituary index.  Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Freemont, OH was the group attempting the project.  At the time, we would have needed to rekey all our entries into the RB Hayes obituary index.  We did not have the staff hours to undertake such a project so I politely declined the invitation.
-In October 2004, RB Hayes approached us again.  They had just received a LSTA grant to form partnerships to make the statewide obituary project a reality.  Any non-profit organization was invited to join the effort.  After some communication, our library agreed to partner with RB Hayes on one condition – our obituary index could be converted to a format allowable for the obituary index so we would not need to rekey the information.  In December 2004, we sent our obituary index to WGTE of Toledo, Ohio for conversion.  We officially became a partner with the RB Hayes in January 2005.  Nearly 105,000 records were converted.  About 10,000 of them needed cleaned up but we did not have the staff time to undergo such a project and be able to keep up with answering queries.
-About the same time, there was a decision at our library to implement a volunteer program.  The search for a Volunteer Coordinator was started and Mary Ann Chupp was selected to fill the new position.  In March 2005, we had our first volunteer begin entering information on the obituary index.  In May 2005, we had 2 additional volunteers begin entering data.  With the implementation of the Volunteer program, staff could focus on the daily operations of the department, including assisting researchers from near and far.
-Our decision to partner with RB Hayes was based on several factors.  The obituary index was live – meaning that as soon as a new entry or a correction was made, it was effective immediately.  Volunteers could do data entry from home rather than coming to the library.  Many more fields could be completed.  These included the age, place of death, birth date, marriage date, maiden names, nicknames, titles, place of burial, military service, and much more.  These fields are searchable.  The online obituary index is not restricted to only Wayne County, OH obituaries.
-The RB Hayes obituary index, complemented with the implementation of the WCPL Volunteer Program, opened up many doors.
-In the preparation to move to a new facility, the early obituary abstracts were entered on the computer from the card file previously found in the card catalog.  These abstracts are available through our department’s website, under the category of online material.  In addition, Reading (PA) obituary abstracts are available through our department’s website.  These abstracts usually included some tie to Wayne County, OH.
-Many libraries and other organizations are putting obituary indexes online.  We have several links to obituary indexes through our website.  Some include the Mennobits, Cleveland necrology, Canton Repository, MOLO, etc.
-[[CATEGORY:Topics in genealogy]]

Difference between revisions of "Necrology and Obituaries"

Latest revision as of 14:01, 8 July 2014

Navigation menu

Search