[ANSTHRLD] 16th century IGI parish transcriptions

[tmcd at panix.com]

On Fri, 20 Oct 2006, debell1 at txcyber.com <heralds at lists.ansteorra.org> wrote:
> Will the SCA accept the English parish register transcripts from pre 1650
> era that the LDS has published in the IGI?
>
> Many researchers outside the SCA I have talked to consider these
> transcripts made from the original parish registers to be more accurate
> than many of the sources from that period we use.

In a quick search, I find this from 12/02:

  Cibella Monmouth. Name (see RETURNS for device).

      The primary documentation for Cibella came from the
      International Genealogical Index (IGI), which is a source that
      should be avoided for SCA name documentation:

           The only documentation provided for the given name was from
           the International Genealogical Index (IGI) of the Church of
           Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). The IGI is not
           sufficient documentation for a submission. It is a database
           of names from records and is intended for use within the
           LDS. Some of the names listed come from primary sources,
           some from secondary sources, and some from tertiary
           sources. The information is submitted by many people who
           have varying levels of research skills. As such,
           inaccuracies in transcription and normalization of names
           renders it unsuitable for SCA heraldic use. [Gabrielle de
           Nevers, 09/01, A-{AE}thelmearc] ...

That is, it's not that the LDS or IGI mystically contaminates name
research: it's that there apparently have been functional problems
with the general mass of IGI information, perhaps an early example of
Wiki-type problems.

So I imagine that IGI transcripts would be evaluated like any other
source, except (because of the precedent) the submitter should
determine that the transcripts are indeed exact transcripts without
normalization.  But that's a step that needs to be done with other
"transcripts" as well, like the Lisle Letters one-volume set that has
the letters thoroughly normalized to modern spelling in their bodies,
but sometimes not their signatures.

Danett Lincoln
-- 
Tim McDaniel; Reply-To: tmcd at panix.com