YOU'RE READY TO START TYPING YOUR LIST

Open a new document, we prefer Notepad or SimpleText or any place on your computer where you can work in plain text. At the top of the manifest there will be a paragraph similar to the one below. Before typing it, please enter the port of departure (City and Country), the port of arrival and the date of arrival, then begin the paragraph which is called the sworn statement. Sworn statements differ in size and content so they will not all look the same.

I, Henry Walker Master of the Steam Ship Etruria do solemnly, sincerely and truly swear that the following List or Manifest, subscribed to me, and now delivered by me to the Collector of the Customs of the Collection District of New York, is a full and perfect list of all the passengers taken on board the said vessel at Liverpool and Queensland from-or it might say for instead of from and both are correct as that ship is sailing from and for that port- which port said vessel has now arrived; and that on said list is truly designated the age, sex, calling or occupation, and it will go on to say more...all of which you type, ending with the So help me God.

Type that sworn statement as it is written on your passenger list. Some of the signatures you will not be able to read, use question marks.

Skip one line and then type this next part which reads: Sworn to this 17 December 1888, before me (signatures cannot be read) DEPUTY COLLECTOR.

Skip one line and then type this next part: List or Manifest Of All The Passengers taken on board the Steamship Etruria whereof Henry Walker is Master, from Liverpool, Queenstown burthen 3390 tons.

SKIP TWO LINES

Then type the line: Columns represent: Name, Age, Sex, Occupation, Country to which they severally belong, Country of which they intend to become inhabitants etc including all the columns which are lists. This is just an example, your columns may list other information.

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PLEASE NOTE: These instructions are for lists from the 1800's and do not apply to lists containing as many as 33 columns of information.

Begin to type your list and do not be concerned with making it line up in columns now. Type the number is there is one and leave room at the left edge of the page if your numbers go into double or triple digits. If you have triple digits, begin by typing number one in two spaces from the left edge. After you type the number without a period after it, (if your list is numbered, please number it) and after the number you skip one space and you type the name as it is written. Regardless of how any examples are presented here, you type the name as it was taken down.

Then you go to the next number and do the same thing. Remember, you are not to be concerned with the spacing of the list and with keeping all the columns lined up at this point. Just get the information down accurately and continue until you have finished all the passengers. We will discuss the spacing later.

When you have finished typing the information on all the passengers, SKIP TWO LINES

At the left margin, type the words Transcriber's Notes:

Under that, at the left margin again you will type: The use of an * indicates an omission or error made by the original recorder. You will need to explain each * you use in your transcriber's notes.

Under that, at the left margin again you will type: The use of a ? indicates a word or letters that could not be read, due to quality of original document. You will need to explain each ? you use in your transcriber's notes.

Continue to type your transcriber's notes until you have included each passenger number which includes an * or a ? and following that number and passenger name, you should describe to the researcher what that * is there for. Maybe it is simply that while the person had a male's name, he was recorded as a female. Perhaps you need to tell them that the occupation was written as Mcht and you believe it means Merchant. Perhaps there was one birth and you eliminated the column for birth and deaths, so you now tell them that this person was born during the voyage and list the date if it is given. You would do the same for a death.

If no one was born and no one died you could say that there were no births or deaths on this passage, therefore the birth/death column has been eliminated.

Do not use numerous asterisks. Do not use any other symbol for noting such as + etc.

If you are explaining a passengers name (remember, you have numbered this list) type the number of the passenger, type the name and clearly state what the question marks mean. Here is where your words become their eyes. Tell them everything you can about the missing letters. There should be an explanation for each asterisk and each question mark which is used. Many times the transcriber's notes are nearly as long as the list and there should be almost no lists on the site without good notes.

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When you've finished the notes, type the CITATION. You will know the numbers since they are included in the wave along with all the other information about the ship and the transcriber(s). (A Wave is a list of lists which are mailed out to transcribers. It is posted on our site in a non-public place.) Anyway, back to the citation, it should look like this -

National Archives and Records Administration, Film , Reel and list number if provided. If it is a later arrival, it may also include Volume number(s).

After the citation line, SKIP TWO LINES and type the following - Don't write in capitals, it is done that way here for emphasis.

Transcribed by YOUR NAME, YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS (if you want to include it) a member of the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, THE DATE. The date is typed as

18 November 1998 using dd/month/yyyy.

PROOFREAD -