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Archiver > APG > 2004-09 > 1096228289


From: Tom Mueller <>
Subject: Re: FW: [APG] Computer convention-surname CAPS was Spaces mean a LOT on Ancetsry Indexes
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2004 12:51:29 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: <200409261840.i8QIeGnb002618@mail.rootsweb.com>


Thank you Elizabeth,

I have read (actually own) ProGen; I obviously need to
re-read it closer. I have some work to do changing
errors I inserted, but not before I do some of what
follows.

We just lost our carport extension roof! I moved a
filing cabinet to a safe[r] area in my house from our
Florida room/office (again!). I have a recent
complete back-up offsite, have also mailed attachments
of several important scanned documents & databases to
myself. I need to scan more original documents I
have, and store the originals in a safe deposit box.
Copies of most of what I have are routinely sent to my
niece (in Broward County!) as backup. As "the" family
member with the strongest interest, Shawna is my
designated 'second'.

Now, to find a quiet? place to read some more of
Stephen King's final installment of the DT series.

Tom Mueller

--- Mills <> wrote:

> Tom wrote: < Having read
> it is genealogically correct protocol to use all
> CAPS
> in surnames, I've been using this in my databases
> and
> in communication. What is correct when dealing with
> McD etc. surnames?>
>
> Tom, old habits die hard -- but you've pointed out a
> very good reason why
> today's level of genealogical precision requires us
> to question many of
> those old habits.
>
> Putting surnames in all caps was a practice adopted
> by early genealogists
> because that made it easier to skim a page full of
> dense text in search of a
> specific surname. (And, of course, "skimming for
> names" was what genealogy
> was all about, back then!) Not only was that an era
> in which decent indexes
> were rare (hence, "research" meant skimming every
> line of every page,
> looking for those all-capped surnames) but it was
> also an era in which
> typewriters had no ability to produce italics or
> boldface. All caps was the
> only means of emphasis available to the average
> genealogist.
>
> Putting surnames in all caps has never been an
> acceptable typographic
> practice. Even in old genealogies, when typographers
> used "all caps," they
> sized them down to "small caps" that would not crowd
> lines (which, of
> course, defeated somewhat the genealogical aim of
> having surnames jump out
> at you and scream "look at me"!).
>
> FYI, this is an issue that Mary McCampbell Bell
> addresses in her
> "Transcripts and Abstracts" chapter of ProGen (p.
> 296), with alternative
> suggestions.
>
> You and Citrus County are in our thoughts and
> prayers. May you be spared.
>
> Elizabeth Shown Mills
>
>
>
> ==== APG Mailing List ====
> The Association of Professional Genealogists
> http://www.apgen.org/publications/apg-l/index.html
>
>




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