Category: Assignment #1

In the transcription of the above pages of Esther Latrobe’s personal writings, there are special tendencies which the reader must employ in order to create an accurate transcription that can truly communicate Latrobe’s story. Because the writing is from the 1800s, the handwriting and lettering is a different style than we are used to. There were many instances in which I relied on the style of lettering to deconstruct an uncertain word. As the transcriber goes further into the documents, the distinct characteristics of each letter become apparent and it allows for a more accurate understanding of the writing and a more accurate transcription all together. There were also unfamiliar abbreviations relating to the Congregation and its members which were at first difficult to recognize, but as the process continued became more and more discernable. One of the issues I encountered was distinguishing whether a word was misspelled or whether it was a different word altogether. Because the writing is so dated and originates in European countries, there is of course the possibility of alternate spellings which make the words trickier to contemplate and identify. However, overall, the Latrobe pieces were not exceedingly difficult to understand and deconstruct. One of my favorite parts of the transcription process was seeing how the writing unfolded as I went. At first, a sentence would seem intangible and then the clarification of one word would bring the whole meaning of the sentence to light. Even a clarified sentence can bring a whole passage to light and genuinely create a story behind it. The accuracy of our transcription is key; the dated language makes it difficult to understand even without errors, so the closer the transcription is to the actual document, the more we will be able to truly grasp what Latrobe was expressing in her writing.

Raleigh

Tags Familial Devotion, Influencing Youth, Looming Death, Repenting, Submission to God

Assignment #1

Elizabeth Grundy Transcription (pages 12-17)

Post author By Caleb Broughton
Post date September 13, 2018
No Comments on Elizabeth Grundy Transcription (pages 12-17)

Caleb Broughton

Transcription Process:

For me, transcribing old texts is something very new and unfamiliar. I didn’t know what to expect when I was told about this assignment, but not that I am done I am happy with how it turned out. At first it was extremely difficult to differentiate between certain combinations of letters, and it seemed like there was no possible way I was going to be able to complete the assignment entirely. After about the third page of Elizabeth Grundy’s memoir, I really started to feel more confident about transcribing and I was in a groove going through lines very quickly. I am a firm believer that transcribing is all about practice, as is anything if you want to be good at it. It was difficult at first but once I really sat down and set aside a good chunk of time to really work at it, it almost didn’t seem like I was doing work.

As I began to get the hang of the transcription process, I gradually was able to grasp a decent understanding of who Elizabeth Grundy was, what she was like as a person, how she dealt with obstacles and struggles in her life and much more. After finishing the six pages I was assigned, and then going back and reading it as a whole, I was easily able to grasp the information that Grundy wrote. After this assignment I am much more confident about transcribing texts, and although I know it isn’t going to be easy, I can honestly say it will be easier after having done this work.

Link to transcriptions of my assigned memoir pages (Google doc)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Nv-N7N0rR6puaTNT2_QHv_918cxgYppQjCQikAxSNqQ/edit?usp=sharing

Link to transcriptions next to original writing (Moravian Lives)

http://moravian.bucknell.edu/scripto/?scripto_action=user_document_pages

Caleb Broughton

Caleb Broughton is an Econ major who plays on the baseball team at Bucknell University. Born in Lebanon, NH on November 6, 1998.

Tags 1756-1787, Brethren church, Dukenfield, Elizabeth Grundy, Fulneck, Huddersfield

Assignment #1

Tippet Transcription (pg. 13,14,16-18)

Post author By Clayton Wright
Post date September 13, 2018
No Comments on Tippet Transcription (pg. 13,14,16-18)

The five pages that I transcribed looked at the end of Samuel Tippet’s religious evolution. Tippet is from England and, as he told it, growing up he was a trouble maker and clearly believes that he has engaged in some actions that are potentially unforgiveable. Tippet’s remorse of his actions as a child and a young adult are clear in my team members transcriptions and his new-found relationship with his lord and savior, Jesus is what he focuses on most in my five pages.

The process of digital text creation is tedious work but if done correctly can be incredibly helpful. For me the process of transcribing begins with reading the entire page, or at least what I could comprehend with ease. I do this to gain a sense of the message that was trying to be articulated by Tippet because, more often than not, the reader will come across a word, or many, while transcribing that is illegible, spelled incorrectly, or totally foreign. Having a general sense of what Tippet was trying to say can help decipher the seemingly nonsensical words for you. After gaining this overview, you begin to transcribe letter by letter. The difficulties that came along with transcribing my works were the different ways in which people in the 18^thcentury wrote some words and letters. For example, the 18^thcentury English way of writing a word with a double s is different than we write it today. There were many times that I confused the first s, which is much taller than the lowercase s we think of today, with the letter f. It took time to pick up on these different techniques used back then but the more I transcribed the easier it was for me notice the 18^thcentury letters and what they translated to in our culture.

The process of transcribing is slow and tedious but it is super helpful after the fact. While transcribing Tippet’s work I remember not understanding the gist of what he was trying to say because I was constantly having to stop reading to decipher a word and this makes it hard to actually follow along with the story. After I completed the transcriptions I was able to go back to my work and read what I had transcribed with ease. It was gratifying knowing that someone who reads my transcriptions will be able to read page to page with ease and really learn about Samuel Tippet’s life.

Below are the links to my transcriptions along with their page numbers.

18)

http://moravian.bucknell.edu/scripto/?scripto_action=transcribe&scripto_doc_id=300045&scripto_doc_page_id=4000768

17)

http://moravian.bucknell.edu/scripto/?scripto_action=transcribe&scripto_doc_id=300045&scripto_doc_page_id=4000767

16)

http://moravian.bucknell.edu/scripto/?scripto_action=transcribe&scripto_doc_id=300045&scripto_doc_page_id=4000766

14)

http://moravian.bucknell.edu/scripto/?scripto_action=transcribe&scripto_doc_id=300045&scripto_doc_page_id=4000764

http://moravian.bucknell.edu/scripto/?scripto_action=transcribe&scripto_doc_id=300045&scripto_doc_page_id=4000763

Google Doc:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13MJaRyAwmMfOANP_Th0uo7URnXYOoho1psEbMa9MMOc/edit

Clayton Wright

Clayton Wright is an economics major at Bucknell University. He transferred to Bucknell from Bowdoin College in 2017. Before college, he grew up in Summit NJ and attended The Pingry School.

Tags #18thcentury, #belief, #Moravianlives, England, religion

Assignment #1

The hardest aspect of the transcription process was learning to read 19th century British handwriting because everything I read now, whether it be textbooks or online articles, is in print. Although I learned how to read and write in cursive in grade school, it was hard reading a person’s handwriting because the letters were not always clearly written out. However, I do understand it is very difficult to write consistently, especially when writing memoirs that are 40 pages long. Another problem I faced was more technical because the pictures of the pages were blurry so it was hard to read the sentences at all. Also, I could not distinguish the different punctuation marks on some pages because they either looked like streaks of ink or other punctuation marks. Thankfully, Professor Faull had requested her colleagues to send clearer pictures so I was able to transcribe all of the pages. I realized it is crucial to have clear digital copies in order to transcribe and analyze any historic documents. Without clear documents, it is impossible to create accurate digital texts which is crucial for allowing anyone on the Internet to have access to information only scholars would have had without the digitization of historical documents. It was interesting to be able to read these documents because I think as a management student at Bucknell, I would have not had the opportunity to learn about the Moravian documents. It was interesting to read Esther Latrobe’s memoir because I would not have had the opportunity to learn about a Christian woman who lived in 19th century England otherwise. I was surprised to read the same phrases that Christians still use till this day like “The Lord Our Shepard”, “everlasting kingdom” and “he speaks, the universe obeys”. As a person who grew up in the Church, I never thought about whether or not Christians in the past centuries used the same jargon as modern day Christians even though the culture changed in reaction to society changing.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JskmdGh4grdhqHksXQmYSCRA0D3VlchO1ceAMjTDobo/edit

Julianna Kim

Tags 19th century, Christianity, England, memoir, Religious