# Historical Document Transcription
I have several thousand pages of family history told through letters, postcards, books, and other documents that I want to transcribe to text. 

## Goals
1. Preserve our family history
2. Unburden my family (and descendants) from having to store and care for the physical media. Once the documents have been transcribed and organized, they can be donated (or kept by a family member that wants to retain them).
3. Make the text easily available and searchable by family members, as well as AI (which may have different requirements).
4. Ability create timelines or assemble the historical record of the family or specific individuals from across the complete document archive. Perhaps use AI to create the timelines in a more narrative form.

## Source material
1. **letters, cards, diaries** - handwritten; mostly stored in tubs, with little organization
2. **books** - typed or typeset; mostly self-published books 50-100 pages in length. This may be expanded to include selected pages from other publications.
3. **newspaper clippings, event programs, invitations, and other ephemera**

 ## Methodology
### Verbatim vs. Clean Copy
Transcriptions should be Verbatim and follow scholarly research guidelines, with no modifications to the original text.

### Prompt Curation Policy
Transcription behavior should be implemented with prompt assets that are human-maintainable over time.

1. Each transcription prompt is stored as an individual Markdown file.
2. Prompt files are refined iteratively as document quality and edge cases are discovered.
3. Prompt changes should be scoped to one prompt file at a time whenever possible to keep review history clear.

### Potential Document Issues
| Document Issue | How to Handle It | Example |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| **Misspellings & Errors** | Retain original spelling and insert italicized `[sic]` directly after the error. | `The weather was very cold and publick [sic] business delayed.` |
| **Missing Words / Slips** | Insert the missing word inside square brackets to restore basic readability. | `We went [to] the store to buy supplies.` |
| **Uncertain / Guesswork** | Place your best hypothesis followed by a question mark inside square brackets. | `He went to [Boston?] yesterday to meet the governor.` |
| **Completely Illegible** | Use a clear descriptive term like `[illegible]` or specify the reason (e.g., `[torn]`, `[ink blot]`). | `The total cost was [illegible] dollars.` or `The letter ends here [remainder of page torn].` |
| **Crossed-out Text** | Wrap the removed word or phrase in a deleted tag to preserve the author's edits. | `We left at [deleted: noon] one o'clock instead.` |
| **Squeezed-in Text** | Wrap text that was added above the line or in a tight space in an inserted tag. | `The [inserted: red] house on the hill was abandoned.` |
| **Superscripts & Abbreviations** | Bring raised letters down to the main line, or optionally expand them in brackets. | `Change Gen^l to Genl` OR `Change to Gen[era]l depending on project preference.` |
| **Images / Seals / Signs** | Describe the non-textual element using italicized text inside square brackets. | `[wax notary seal attached here]` or `[sketch of a fort layout]` |
| **Marginalia / Notes** | Note the spatial transition clearly before transcribing the note itself. | `[written in left margin:] Do not share this with anyone.` |
| **Line Breaks / Hyphens** | Rejoin words split across a page margin silently, dropping the line-break hyphen. | `Original: "estab- / lishment" becomes "establishment"` |
| **Ambiguous Capitalization** | Default to modern capitalization rules unless an archaic uppercase letter is clearly intentional. | `If a standard noun like 'Farm' looks randomly capitalized, type 'farm'.` |
**Hierarchical Outlines** | Preserve exact numbering characters (including lowercase Roman numerals or terminal 'j'). Replicate indentation levels using spaces/tabs. Do not correct math or sequence errors silently. | `I. Main Topic`<br>`&nbsp;&nbsp;a. Sub-point`<br>`&nbsp;&nbsp;b. Next point`<br>`III. [sic] Third Topic` |