FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Adding Society Information to U.S. County Pages

Current Projects page Adding Society Information to U.S. County Pages

PURPOSE
To add information about genealogical/historical societies and their record collections to U.S. county pages.

CONTACT
Jane Colmenares

TASK LIST
Task List

INSTRUCTIONS
Video recording of project instructions

1. Go to the Task List and choose a section of a state you wish to work on and sign out those counties (we have divided up the large states so you won't have as much to take on at once). Once you have done that, using the list of counties on the main state page, complete each county you have signed out.

2. If there is already information about a society on the county page, reformat the information to match these instructions. If there is only a link to the Genealogical Society, add additional contact and other information about the society.

3. To locate county societies click on the following website name and then search for genealogical/historical societies:


 * Society Hill
 * RAOGK - Society Archives
 * Epodunk Browse appropriate county profile for societies
 * Google Type in the search box "Genealogical Society [county name and state]" or "Historical Society [county name and state]"
 * USGenWeb
 * Cyndi's List

4. Once you have located some genealogical and historical societies to add to the county page, go to the Heading, listing the societies. Sometimes it is called, Societies and Libraries. Sometimes it is just called, Societies.

5. For each county society you find, look for the following:


 * Name of the society
 * Address
 * Phone number
 * E-mail
 * Website

6. Add name of society: Add the name of the society in alpha order under the Archives and Libraries heading. Bold the name of the society. In Wikitext, use three apostrophes to bold the name.

Example in wikitext:


 * Autuaga County Genealogical Society

7. Add Address: Add the address putting a  after the street address and zipcode

Example in wikitext:


 * 1234 Main Street Prattville, Alabama 36068-0668

8. Add Telephone: If there is a telephone number, add it after the address using the example below.

Example in wikitext:


 * Telephone:310-555-2929

9. Add E-mail: If there is an e-mail address for the society, make the e-mail address into a clickable link. The e-mail address goes directly after the telephone number.

Example of correct link for e-mail address in wikitext:


 * E-mail: [mailto:askarchives@autuagahistory.org askarchives@autuagahistory.org]

10. Adding Website: Put the URL after the address and e-mail address on the page. If there is a website already listed on the page, change any exposed URLs so that the full URL does not appear. Use the example to help you enter the URL for the society. Example of correct URL link in wikitext:


 * Website

11. Some societies actually have their own record collections. When you are at the society's site, check to see if they have such collections, and if they are available to the public. Discover the strengths and peculiarities of the databases or collections of the society. You may add a sentence or two about the collection.

12. You may also wish to include the following:


 * Rules for using the collection
 * Copy policies
 * Research help
 * Cost of entrance

13. You do not need to add state–level societies to county pages, but if there are regional societies, you may want to include those. You can look at the map in the infobox on most pages to see where that county is in the state.

14. This is an example of a county page that has had several societies added to it.

EXAMPLE OF COMPLETED ENTRY FOR SOCIETY IN WIKITEXT:

EXAMPLE OF COMPLETED ENTRY FOR SOCIETY ON WIKI PAGE:



15. If you do not find any societies, move on to the next county.

16. Once you have finished your counties, go back to the Task List and indicate the date you completed your task.