FamilySearch Wiki:Wikiproject Glean from FamilySearch Historical Collections

Project Purpose and Description This project makes Wiki users aware — especially at the county level — of online collections which are available for free at FamilySearch.org.

Project contributors find, describe, and link from the Wiki to the collections at FamilySearch by posting to county or state pages under appropriate topics.

Preparation

 * 1) Open a state page in the wiki. This lets you get to the needed counties or state topics you find as you go through the FamilySearch Record Collections.
 * 2) Be sure to sign in to the Wiki so you can edit
 * 3) Please use wikitext
 * 4) Navigate to Historical Records of a state at FamilySearch.org  [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]]  Click Search tab [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]]  Select Records [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]]  Click the US part of the world map [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]]  Select the state  This gives you the list of records to be posted to the Wiki. [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] Copy the URL of this "State List" to a Sticky Note or other file — you will be needing it again.

Records to post to the Wiki
The [list of collections] available on FamilySearch for any given state are indexed (with or without images), browse-able images only, or partly indexed and partly browse-able.

Many of the collections are statewide. Others, especially the browse-able collections, may be subdivided into counties.

For this Wiki project, we will ignore the U.S. collections that are listed on the state page.

Indexed FamilySearch Records
Statewide items need to be posted only to the appropriate state topic page. County or city/town items need to be posted to the county page under the right topic.
 * 1) Click Show all ... [# of items for the state you selected]
 * 2) Bypass all United States collections
 * 3) For each indexed state or county collection:
 * 4) in FamilySearch Records, click to the collection
 * 5) in the Wiki, open the appropriate state topic page or county page and click the edit box for the right section. NOTE: You may need to add "Online" as a new heading at the top of a state topic page. Many were written before online collections existed.
 * 6) Post the link and description to the Wiki page in the format below:


 * 1861-1865 — one of the Arkansas Collections at FamilySearch.org — Indexes and images

You may prefer to put these in sticky notes rather than typing over and over:
 * The RecordSearch Template, just paste the current ID number and title into it.
 * The wording and link to the [state] collection, such as this one for Arkansas, one of the Arkansas Collections
 * The link to FamilySearch at FamilySearch.org — Indexes and images

Image Only Historical Records

 * Navigate to Historical Records of a state • at FamilySearch.org [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]]  Search  [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]]  Records  [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]]  Click the US map  [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] select the state
 * Slide down to [State] Image Only Historical Records
 * Bypass all United States items
 * Statewide items: add them to the topic wiki pages for the state. See example Arkansas Confederate Pensions, 1901-1929
 * Most collections will be posted to a Wiki county page under the appropriate topic(s). • In most cases, the county is identified. • If only a town is mentioned, use Wikipedia to identify the county. • Otherwise, just put it on a state page for that topic.

Examples of Collections for
Click a link to see an example The examples show how to post FamilySearch record collections. Some collections focus on one place, such as one county or a statewide collection. Other collections are subdivided when they contain several counties.

Many record collections have several types of documents. Probate Records, for example, may contain wills, administrations, loose papers, inventories, ... well, you get the idea.

The examples below show the preferred format for each type of post. A table below each example shows the exact wikitext with explanations.

One State or County
one of the Arkansas Collections at FamilySearch.org — browse images
 * 1867-2013 — Arkansas, Oakland and Fraternal Historic Cemetery Records, 1867-2013, Little Rock, at FamilySearch Historical Collections. (Free, browse unindexed images)

Multiple counties
Many of the image only collections at FamilySearch cover several counties. We want users to get directly to the page with records for that county.

Please link to the "waypoint" to one county's portion of the collection. Users can get to the full list of counties by clicking the collection name given in your post.

Example:
 * 1873-1974 - Cleveland County Probate Records 1873-1974, part of at [FamilySearch.org] - Browse images

This post consists of several parts, as explained in the box below:

Multiple types of documents
Some records have many types of documents and researchers want a brief list of documents they will see if they click to the collection. In this case, simply add the word "Includes" at the end of your post, with a brief list.

Here's an example:
 * 1819-1924 — Arkansas County Probate Records 1819-1924, part of at FamilySearch.org — Free, browse images; Includes Administrations, Guardianship, Wills, and more

Key to Wikitext codes
Links to FamilySearch Record Collections get users to the best links first, then 1 step back to a more general link, yet still in context, then to FamilySearch.org. This gives the user freedom to use more of the collection than just one link.

For this project, FamilySearch record collections have 3 links:
 * 1. The first link is directly to:
 * a. The County part of a subdivided, browse-able collection
 * b. Or the first useful page, if not subdivided into counties
 * i. Indexed collections: link to the "Search Collection" page
 * ii. Browse-able collections: link to the first "Browse images" page
 * 2. The second link goes back just 1 step, to:
 * a. Subdivided, browse-able collections: The first "Browse images" page
 * b. Indexed or browse-able collections that have not been subdivided into counties: The state's list of all FamilySearch collections
 * 3. The third link always goes to the FamilySearch.org home page

Understanding the Wikitext codes used

Phase 2 (optional)
Indexed statewide collections

Do they need to be posted to county pages? The "Intro" templates on the county pages will link to the state topic page. This almost eliminates the need to post directly to each county.

EXCEPTION: When a few counties have more entries than most, they can be posted to those counties. A "coverage table" if it exists for this collection, will tell the number of entries for each county.
 * 1) See if there is a "coverage table" for this collection. From the main page for the collection, click Learn more, and look for a link to a coverage table.
 * 2) If no coverage table, let the Intro template suffice.
 * 3) Is the coverage pretty consistent county to county, based on the coverage table?
 * 4) Yes. Let the Intro template suffice.
 * 5) No. If the coverage seems spotty, post it to the state topic page AND to only the few counties with high number of entries. Do not post to counties with little or nothing.