General
Rules:
Holding
time:
How
long you should hold on to the obits that you have indexed? You need to hold
obits for 90 days from the date of the "Obituary Daily Times" digest
that the obit appears in. This gives everybody ample time to sort through the
listings, send, and answer queries.
Format:
Obituary submissions should be sent in the .txt format, this is the only format that can be read by both Mac and PC systems.
What to
submit:
Only current obits for the
date being reported are submitted. "In Memoriam" obits should not be
indexed. There is always a possibility that this would create duplication in
the database. How? When the person died, there was probably an obit or death
notice put in the newspapers at that time and we indexed it then.
Using the
program:
This program handles multiple newspapers and the publication frequencies for them, from a single program.
·File:
oExit: Exits
ObitFiler
·Action:
oExport: This option
is used to export unsent obits, to any e-mail package. After you click on
export. You will get a pop-up window that says
§All unsent
entries have been stored in the system clipboard. Open your email program and
paste them in now. A backup of these entries has been stored in the file
Sent\19990820.000. After you are done pasting hit the Ok button.
DO NOT CLICK on OK!
Start your e-mail package, click in the message body as if you were going to
type an e-mail message, then select Edit, then Paste from the menu selection at
the top of the e-mail screen or hold down the Ctrl key and type V. This action
pastes all unsent indexed obits in the body of your new e-mail message. After
your obits are pasted into the e-mail you can click the OK in the pop-up box
created when you clicked on Export.
oSet
Date:
A pop-up window will appear. Type the date as, for example, Sep 17, 2000. You
must include the comma after the date and you must use a 4 digit year. Click on
the OK box to apply the new date.
oConfigure: There are
three options a General, New Paper and
Remove Paper. In the General option window, if you click on the down arrow
selector at the right, you can choose one of the Newspapers you are currently
indexing, and then change some of the options for that paper.
§New Paper: Click on this button to add a new
newspaper you are going to index. See Newspaper
below for the information to enter here.
§Remove Paper: You must first select the newspaper
using the down arrow selector, then click on this button to remove a paper.
§General: Allows you to change your tagname
which appears on every obit. Use only the tagname you and your moderator agreed
on when you became a contributor.
§Font name: There are four fonts available:
Dialog, Mono-spaced, Sans Serif, and Serif. You may choose the one you like
best.
§Font Size: You may change the size of the font to
whatever you like. This is useful if you have trouble seeing the default fonts.
§Visible Entries in List: This field controls the number
of entries that are visible in the Obits lists. Those with small screens can
make this smaller than the default 5, so the whole window will fit on their
screen. Those with high-resolution monitors might want to see more. The default
should work for most people.
Font,
Font Size, along with the number of Visible Entries determines how large the
main ObitFiler screen is. You may have to adjust one or all these items to get
the whole entry page so it is viewable on you monitor.
§Newspaper: Click on the small downward-pointing
arrow immediately to the left of the New
Paper button, then click on the newspaper that you want to change. The
following fields will be presented to you:
§Paper Abbreviation: Enter only the paper abbreviation
using upper and lower case letters, which is supplied by your trainer. Once
entered this field can not be changed, if it is incorrect you will have to delete
the incorrectly entered paper and enter a new newspaper with the correct
abbreviation.
§Paper Location: This is the abbreviation for the
state/province where the paper is published. If, and only if, other than
§Days in Previous: This field tells the program how many
days to display in the Previous Obits list. The default is 2, but can be
changed. When reduced to zero (0) no Obits will appear in this window.
§Paper Frequency: This field indicates how often the
paper is published. Daily, Weekly, Monthly are supported. For other frequencies
you can set the date manually, each time you before you to index.
§Auto-City: Cities which are listed as
"Auto-City" will automatically display in the City of
·Help:
oContents: Not currently
active.
oAbbreviation: Brings up the
list of approved abbreviations for use in ObitFiler.
oAbout: Indicates the
copyright information and version of the ObitFiler you are using.
1. Previous
Obits:
Displays the obit indexes for the previous period(s) as set in the Days in
Previous List or Window.
If you would like to copy an obit which appears in this window to the current
data entry fields, just double click on it and all the fields except the date
will be copied for you.
2. Today's
Obits:
List the obits you added for the current day.
oAdd: When you have
finished entering all information for a person, click the Add button. This will add this index to Today's Obits.
oEdit: To edit an
entry, highlight it in the Today's Obits list, and then click the Edit button. This will return all the
information to the input section so it may be edited.
oDelete: To delete,
highlight the Obit in the Today's Obits list, and click Delete.
oClear: If the
information in the input section is incorrect click on the Clear button. All data entry fields will be cleared.
oPrevious
Day:
Moves back one date at a time. If you selected daily in Configure then the program skips back one day, if you selected
weekly then the program skips back 7 days.
oNext
Day:
Moves forward one date at a time. If you selected daily in Configure then the program skips ahead one day, if you selected
weekly then the program skips ahead 7 days.
oDone: Saves all
work and exits ObitFiler.
oAdd
Auto-City:
Click to put a check mark in this box, if you want to add the current City of
oNewspaper: Above date on
the main ObitFiler screen, is a box with the name of the newspaper you are
currently entering obits for. If you index more than one newspaper, click on
the down arrow on the right and select the next newspaper you want to index.
oTab: Moves the
user one field down.
oShift-Tab: Moves the
user one field up.
oSpace
Bar:
If you tabbed to the Auto-City block it allows you to Set & Unset the
Auto-City. If you are on the Add index button and push the space bar it will
act as a enter key.
oCtrl: Allows the
user to force lower case letters in all Last Name fields.
Remember: Make sure the date is correct before you start
entering obits.
Capitalization and Lower Case Letters: When using this computer programs, it is not necessary to use the Shift, or Caps
Lock key to get the correct capitalization in any field as the program will do
that for you. To override this behavior and obtain a lower case letter in a
field which normally requires all capital letters (such as "McNEIL"
in last, maiden, or other last names) press and hold the Ctrl key while typing
the letter you want in lower case.
Moving between fields:
Use the Tab key to move forward from one field to the next. You may either hold
down the Shift key and type Tab or use the mouse to move back to the previous
field.
Copying an obit:
To copy all the information from an obit in the Previous Obits Window to the
Current Obit Window, just double-click on it.
There are 6
fields for every obituary you index, separated by semicolons - no more and no
less. In every record there should be exactly one comma and five semicolons:
Surname, Firstname; Age; Place of Birth>Place of Death; Pub Name; Pub Date; Tagname
The format and
punctuation of these fields is set up for you automatically by ObitFiler, but
we will look at each of these fields to give you a better understanding of what
makes up each of them. Some fields contain several elements.
A. Last name:
The person's last name is always
entered in capital letters. ObitFiler will do this for you. As usual, every
rule has an exception and the exception here is MC, MAC, VAN and ST names.
These should be listed as Mc, Mac, Van and St (and then capital letters for the
remainder of the last name). You will have to hold down the Ctrl key and type
the lower case letter or letters in ObitFiler to accomplish this. Most last
names will be one name and not have a space between the first part and the rest
of the name. There are other exceptions, such as Native American names. Also
see Double Surnames below.
Example: Correct Incorrect Correct Incorrect McDONALD MCDONALD DeMEO DEMEO McDONALD Mc DONALD LaSALLE LASALLE McDONALD McDonald
Accents should never
be used in the indexes. Names like "Côté" should be entered as
B. Double Surnames:
People who have double surnames should be listed as SMITH-JONES. If it is
determined through reading the obit that the maiden name was SMITH, then add it
as you would any other maiden name. Some people were given double surnames at
birth, while others obtained them through marriage. By checking for a maiden
name, you will be able to determine which situation you are working with.
Example: SMITH-JONES, Mary Ann ROYCE-JAMES, John Adams III
C. First name:
The person's first name should have the first letter capitalized; it may
contain both upper and lower in the remainder of the name.
A person’s
first name is not normally Robert J Mrs, unless there is no other information
available. When the woman's first name is given, it is used, instead of the husbands’
name.
D. Middle name and initials: The middle name always follows the first name. If there is
no middle name, only an initial, it belongs here. Do not use a period after the
initial. No exceptions apply.
E. Titles, prefixes and suffixes: These always
follow the middle name or initial. No punctuation (periods or commas) is used.
The title Mr Mrs or Ms should only be used if the gender of the deceased is not
obvious from the person's name. If military rank etc. is given, do not include
it. No exceptions apply.
Example: JONES, Terry J Mrs JONES, Earl E Sr Dr JONES, Earl E Dr
F Nicknames:
When using this program enter the nickname in the nickname field. If more than
one nickname is given, enter both, separated by a single space.
G. Maiden
names:
Enter the Maiden Name in the Maiden Name field. It is important to remember
that some cultures allow for the man or the woman a choice of last name(s), so
a man could have a maiden name. It could also be a double last name, so it is
important to read the obit you are indexing and try to determine if a maiden
name is involved.
Some people
have stated that trying to locate the maiden name or first married name within
an obit takes too much of their time. These are important elements for all researchers;
take the time to look for them.
Unknown Maiden
Name:
If a maiden name can not be determined and
it is evident that the woman was married, then put insert a,? (question
mark) in this field. This will result in the index looking like this:
Example: SMITH, Mary A ( ) [THOMAS]
Never Married: If you can
determine that a female had never been married, then use the word
"miss" after her name, without the " " marks.
Example: SMITH, Mary Jane miss
Nuns: Nuns pose a
problem because they are often listed in an obit with both their birth names
and their religious names. They are entered according to the following two
rules:
If
only a single name is given, treat it as any other name followed by the word
Sister:
SURNAME, First Name Sister SMITH, Agnes Augustine Sister
If
both a birth name and a religious name are given, put the birth surname in the
surname field, the birth first name in the first name field and the religious
name, without surname, in the nickname field preceded by the word Sister:
SURNAME, First Name "Sister Religious Name"SMITH, Mary J "Sister Agnes Augustine"
Do
not include the Order (i.e. SC or SSF) and "Sister" should be spelled
out rather than abbreviated to "Sr" to avoid confusion with
"Senior".
H. Also
Known As (AKA) Names: Occasionally you will run into a situation where the
obituary listing has more that one name for the same person as is often the
case with movie stars or stage personalities. In this case, use the birth name
as the usual and treat the AKA name as a nickname. Adoptive names would fall
into this field too.
Example: LEACH, Alexander Archibald "GRANT Cary"; Adoptive name:
Example: "She was born Rose Julia, in Tyler TX to Martin and Bertha (Falls) Winciker of Shreveport LA. At age 2, she was adopted by Joseph and Josephine (Kral) Krobot."
Use the adoptive parents’ surname, in the surname field KROBOT, Rosa Julia and in the nickname use the birth surname. "WINCIKER Rosa Julia" this puts her birth name in as a nickname but it can still be found.
KROBOT, Rosa Julia "WINCIKER Rosa Julia ";
I. Other Last Names: Married two or more times. This field is normally intended for women other married
names. If you can determine that the person was previously married (at some
point, even if divorced or widowed at death), then;
Enter the
other last name or names separated by one space into the field. The program
will format the information correctly. The results will look like this:
Examples: SMITH, Mary Jane (JONES) [ANDERSON] SMITH, Mary A ( ) [THOMAS] [ANDERSON (NOTE)
Duel Last names in the Other Last Name field: When entering a Duel Last Name i.e. Van De ALFREDO
enters it as VanDeALFREDO, the results will look like this:
Examples: LARREA, Antonia (ESTRADA)
[VanDeALFREDO]
Enter the
person age. The program will not allow you to use such terms as, 4 months old,
died at birth, stillborn, etc. If the child is less than a year old the age is
to be listed as "0". If the child is 12 months to 23 months is age,
the age is to be listed as "1". If an age is not listed leave the
field blank. A blank space followed by a semi-colon will be inserted in the
index to show that no age was included.
RULE: If the birth
state/province/country is the same,
as the death state/province/country does
not enter anything for the place of birth. (i.e. CA =CA or MEX = MEX. No
birthplace would be entered)
A. City of
B. State/Province/Country of Birth: If the rule above does not apply, enter the abbreviation
for the state/province/country of birth. If the place of birth is other than
Note: A city of birth can not be entered without a
state/province/country of birth.
C. City of
Note: A city of death can not be entered without a
state/province/country of death.
D. State/Province/Country of Death: Only enter the state, province or, country of death here if
it is different from that which you entered as the publication state of the
newspaper you are indexing.
Abbreviations lookup:
Click on Help, then Abbreviation to look up an abbreviation
for a state, province or country. The abbreviation will be 2 or 3 capital
letters sometimes followed by a country. Do
not use a comma to separate the state/province/county from the country
code.
The ObitFiler
program folder has an Abbrev.txt file, which can be printed, using any word
processor. Use Start, Find to locate the file.
When you have
finished entering the place of birth/death, the result should look like that in
the following examples:
Examples: