Trials, Tribulation, and Transcription

 When working at a historic house museum, one can generally expect to encounter a large number of primary source documents relating to the inhabitants of the house. Riversdale House Museum is no exception, and its most notable residents, the Stier-Calverts, were such meticulous correspondents that museum staff continues to transcribe and digitize the family’s many letters today, more than a century and a half after they were originally written. I have been fortunate enough to assist with the transcription of some of these documents, and have experienced a whirlwind of emotions, many of which would not be appropriate to describe in this blog. 

Transcription is defined as the act of transcribing, or making a written copy of words. I assumed this part of my job would be a piece of cake. I’ve been making written copies of words since I was in the first grade, right? Wrong. Horribly, horribly, wrong. Transcription of historic documents is incredibly difficult, frustrating, and leads to false hope when you think you have correctly interpreted the word only to realize you are wrong, still. The handwriting of the nineteenth century can vary wildly from what we are used to. I will include below an example of one of the documents I was able to partially transcribe before I handed it into my supervisor to give the finishing touches.

This document is a note dated January 13, 1862,  from “Jackson Brother & Co.,” addressed to Charles Benedict “C. B.” Calvert, the son of George Calvert and Rosalie Stier Calvert. 

What I was able to decipher:

“Hon. C. B. Calvert, 

Please…for two, or three… on a/e of any note due…

Give this your usual prompt attention if you please… will oblige very Resfy Jackson”

The complete text:

“Hon. C. B. Calvert,

Dr Sir

Please send us a check for two, or three hundred dollars, on a/c of note due us.

Give this your usual prompt attention if you please.

And oblige

Very Respy yrs

Jackson Brother & Co.”

As you can see, I was able to interpret a good chunk of this letter, but was missing some key bits of information that tell us what the letter was about. Surprise, surprise, it was about money. Some things never change.