“Forming and Analyzing a Database of Letters Using the Erastus Snow Family to Illustrate”
Don/Diane Snow
6/11/11
Categories: RT, IR
Talk Abstract:
The Snows will describe procedures and freeware programs they have used to transcribe and form a searchable database of the nearly 300 personal letters they have of the Erastus Snow family. The tools and ideas include help in transcribing the handwritten letters, ways to name the files for ease in searching and forming a spreadsheet to analyze and draw charts, ways to identify and edit the names and places, programs that can be used to search the entire collection for names, words, and phrases, and keeping track of interesting items in the letters. The Snows gave a presentation on their database at the Mormon History Association meeting in St. George two weeks ago where the emphasis was on the text of the letters themselves. Here the emphasis will be on the technical aspects of forming and analyzing the database, but they will illustrate with the text, as well.
Speaker Bio:
The Snows have been involved with family history for many years and both are retired faculty members from BYU where Don taught Mathematics and Diane taught Humanities. Don is a great grandson of Erastus Snow and they have been on four family history missions for the LDS Church, including being the Directors of the New York Family History Center in Manhattan, serving in Nauvoo, and serving at the London Family History Center in the Hyde Park Chapel in England. They have 6 children, 30 grandchildren, 4 great grand children, and now are “snowbirds” splitting their time between Provo and St. George. They are speakers at many family history venues.
Meeting Agenda
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NOTICE:
This presentation is part of a set of over 400 presentations on genealogy and family history produced by "UVTAGG: The Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group".
For full details and to join, see the website https://uvtagg.org.