Documents take on a number of different sizes, shapes, and meanings. For that reason classifying and displaying documents has always been a significant challenge. Where possible, we also like to have a translation of handwritten documents, and this presents somewhat of a problem when trying to keep the translation and copies of the original document together.

In the past we tried to couple a written translation with the original document by typing the original into a web page, which my default made it an HTML document. We then coupled it to images of the original documents through links on the web page when those were available.

We cannot emphasize enough how important documents are to the research we are all doing on our families. You may have a document that is mildly interesting to you that is the key to unlocking information for someone else. To the degree that we all share the information we discover, we imporve the odds of helping others in their search.

New Standards

• To resolve the issue of keeping documents coupled together with translations we have adopted the standard on this new site of only presenting documents as Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format items, commonly referred to as PDF files. This gives us the ability to link into one document both text and graphics, and to do so in a way that follows general standards for document interchange. It has the added benefit of keeping related information together.
• We also are taking the time to make the PDF documents searchable so that the information contained within document translations will be more easily accessable.
• Where we have translations, but no document scans we will work over the coming months to close that gap, and conversely, where we have copies of documents but no translations we will work to create those interpretations.
• Using the PDF format gives us a way to exchange documents in a format that is more difficult to compromise. The documents are "coded" when created to allow reading, but no modification is allowed.
• And last, using this standard gives others a way to send documents to us and have them preserved in a way that will not compromise their integrity.

Reading PDF Documents

• If you do not have the Adobe Acrobat PDF reader on your computer it is readily available from any number of sources, and it is free in its most often used format.
• The easiest and most relevant source is from the Adobe software web site at www.Adobe.com.
• We will always being using the current version of the reader, and since it is a free product we would encourage you to always do so since it guarantees compatibility.
• Documents in the PDF format will also be designated as such by a common icon which looks like this.

Creating PDF Documents

• Creating PDF documents can be a little more difficult and expensive than just reading them.
• The full version of the Adobe Reader costs approximately $300 as of March 2007, but there are a number of ways to create PDF files outside of the main Acrobat program.
• Many programs, like the Microsoft Office 2007 suite, offer ways to save documents in the PDF format directly without having to scan or otherwise convert the documents.
• Some scanning programs also offer ways to scan directly into the PDF format.

Submitting Documents

• A natural part of any genealogical researh is the investigation of family links through reading and researching documents.
• We encourange anyone who finds information to share it openly to reduce the time spent by others in their search.
• To submit a PDF for our web site please follow the steps outlined below.
  • First, scan or save your document in PDF format.
  • Second, attach the document to an email addressed to submit@whiteheaddna.com
• Before posting the document to the web site we will rerview it, make it searchable, and name it to follow our naming convention if it is not already named appropriately.
• Document size is also important since many Internet Service Providers will not forward documents they consider to be excessively large. Where possible, please reduce documents to a reasonable size (less than 10 megabytes) before trying to send them.

Naming Conventions

• A very real problem with our current site as it has grown over the years is trying to catalog and maintain documents.
• Most of our documents were acquired one at a time, and the problems associated with naming were not apparent until we accumulated several hundred documents.
• We will be converting and renaming our documents from the old web site over the remainder of 2007 and we will follow the following conventions.
• Documents will be named using the following components.
  • Category
    • Documents will generally be categorized into letters, legal documents, obituaries, newspaper articles, books, Bibles, journals, and other documents.
    • A three digit abbreviation will be used to designate the category such as ltr, lgl, obt, nws, bok, bib, jnl, and otr (following the list above). Other abbreviations will be added as needed and included on this page.
• Date in the format YYYYMMDD - Where a portion of the date is unknown a zero will always be substituted for the missing portion of the date.
• Surname - The surname of the primary individual referenced in the article. Women will always be referenced by their maiden names (if known) to avoid confusion and to bridge information from before and after marriages. If a woman's maiden name is unknown then she will be referenced as the "wife of" her spouse.
• Tie Breaker - Since it is possible to duplicate items for any given date and surname, a two digit tie breaker will be added to the end of the name to separate items.
• Example - A letter written on June 11, 1841 by Walter Whitehead, where this is the first document we have with this date and name combination would be titled ltr_18410611_whitehead_01.