CAPLACER-L Archives

From: "" <>
Subject: [CAPLACER] Pre-1905 project, weekly update
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 15:59:18 -0800

>Hi all;
>Things have been really going rapidly with the project. It is hard to
believe that we have only been working on the majority of the project since
the first of the year. I am so impressed with all the volunteers and donors
for this project. They have been wonderful.
>
>We currently have Riverside and Madera counties online. We will
momentarily have Book one of Butte County, Book one of San Bernardino
County and all of San Diego County online. That will all occur this week.
Steve has put contrasting colors on the county names that are online so
they are easier to find. Just click on the county name and it will come up.
The information is listed in the same order as in the death registers that
we transcribe from.
>
>Several people have asked about what some of the status notes in the
center column of the first page mean. Thought I would explain.
>
>Transcription Phase means we are currently transcribing those counties. We
currently have more than 60 transcribers working on the project, so there
are several counties in the process. I still have to admit that there are
more working in Los Angeles County than any other because there are so many
records for that county. We are anxious to get this online since so few
online projects are available for the Los Angeles area.
>
>Records Available - Pending Funding means just that. We have received
notification that we can get the records, but we need to acquire the funds
to copy them. This is our largest expense for the project.
>
>Pending Funding alone means that we have ordered the files on a promise of
funding from a person or organization and some we are hoping for funding
before the records get here. These are ordered and in the process of being
copied for us but we desperately need monies to cover these expenses. This
is especially true of the San Francisco records as it is even larger than
the Los Angeles County records. We need donations to help us get these copied.
>
>Pending Info on Availability means that we have not yet received word if
we can get the records. You will notice there are fewer and fewer of these
as you go to the website. Now we just need the funding to get copies once
they are available.
>
>What we do when we are ready for a county, we order the files, then make a
copy of what is sent. This way we have two copies. One set to distribute
and the master copy. This saves us from having to re-order files when the
post office loses a batch. We can just copy from our masters. They have
managed to lose two batches so far out of the 80+ batches that we have sent
out to transcriptionists. When we get the batches back from the
transcriptionists, they are then set aside until a full Book or county is
complete. They are then processed to go online. We currently have the
following counties distributed and in transcription. If there are only one
or two trancribers, we have listed their name here as well:
>
>San Bernardino Book Two
>Los Angeles Book One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six
>Marin Book One and TwoBetty Vickroy
>Colusa Book One and TwoSue Wood and Justina Cook
>Humboldt Book One and Two
>Butte Book TwoChuck and Carol Stewart
>
>Other counties in the transcription phase are:
>
>MendocinoPhil Carnahan
>San Luis ObispoBarbara Erden
>PlacerJacqui Marcela
>KlamathLaura Melton
>MariposaSteven Miller
>City of OaklandGeorge Rushton
>San BenitoDee Sardoch
>SiskiyouLaura Melton
>
>We also have other counties where digital photos of the records are being
taken to transcribe from. This saves us in the expense category and is
greatly appreciated of the people doing this huge project.
>
>Several people have asked to transcribe designated counties only. Although
this can be arranged, this is difficult on us. We do the best we can. Some
of our transcibers are actually going to the recorder's offices and
transcribing from the original records on their laptops. These people need
extra praise for not only transcribing, but for taking the time to drive
there and to be limited by the hours of the government offices.
>
>DONATIONS: Desperately needed. We pay about .35 per page of about 40 names
for the indexes. Some records cost a little more. When we are dealing with
a county like Los Angeles with over 40,000 names, you can see the cost
factor go up. Now we would like to get San Francisco started and that is
even more. How much more, we do not know yet, but that was a heavily
populated area during the mid 1800s to 1905. For this reason, we need all
the help we can get. We have some people that are sponsoring whole counties
and we have others sending small checks to help. All is appreciated. ALSO,
postage to get the files to the transcribers is greatly appreciated. Each
packet that we send out to be transcribed averages about $1.25 in postage.
We have sent out over 80 at this point. That is a lot of postage. We need
your help, no matter how much. Please send donations to me. It will be
greatly appreciated.
>
>One other item that we are going to throw out for discussion. We have
thought about taking the completed records and placing the information on
CD and selling those CDs to help finance the project. We have not
determined price or availability at this point, but would like to know if
something like this would be of interest to those of you out there doing
research. The same info would be online, but some people would like these
to donate to genealogical societies, libraries etc. Funds would cover costs
and add to the project income to finance future counties. Don't forget that
when we are finished with the deaths, we are hoping to go to marriage and
birth records. Your opinion on this is greatly appreciated.
>
>I would like to take a couple lines to thank Steve Melton for his undying
help in getting this project online. He had his hard drive go down and need
replaced as well as some other minor computer problems in the middle of
setting up and uploading the webpage. We could not do it without him and
you are GREATLY appreciated. Laura, who has been serving his meals in front
of the computer deserves a vote of thanks on this as well. She is also my
assistant coordinator with Steve and keeps us technically on our toes and
running.
>
>A special thanks to Ken Doig who donated the previously transcribed Madera
County death records to the site. Ken is the moderator for the Madera
County USGenWeb Project.
>
>For those of you who have missed previous updates, this is the pre-1905
records of deaths that are currently being put on line at:
>http://www.rootsweb.com/~bf1905
>
>Thanks for all your help and support. Please feel free to contact me if
you have any questions or suggestions regarding the site, info, or helping.
Till next week.....
>
>Donna Bradley
>Pre-1905 Project Coordinator
>P. O. Box 391368
>Anza, CA 92539-1368
>
>

This thread:

• [CAPLACER] Pre-1905 project, weekly update by "" <>