Kate Feighery of the Archdiocese of New York kindly took the time to answer questions and discuss their projects and experience using the platform with Sara Brumfield of FromThePage.
Kate Feighery is the Executive Director of Archives & Records Management of the Archdiocese of New York.
Tell us about the records you’re working with and why they matter.
The Archdiocese of New York is using From the Page to transcribe historical baptismal records. In the Archdiocese, all of the sacramental registers are maintained at the parish level, no matter how old they are. For the past few years, the Archives has been working on digitizing the books (which we then return to the parish). However, since all of the ledgers are handwritten, there isn’t an easy way to index them.
What problem were you trying to solve when you started this project?
Because the records are all maintained on the parish level, there is no centralized database in the Archdiocese that allows us to search for where and when a person was baptized. Many of the requests we get are for people needing either their own or a relative’s baptismal record, but do not know what parish to contact. Sometimes we can narrow it down using address information, siblings, census records, or other information, but it can be extremely time-consuming and often fruitless. With over 400 churches in the Archdiocese, we were looking for a way to index and centralize this information, to make it searchable and accessible.
Why did you choose this collection as a starting point?
For the Catholic church, baptismal records are among the most important. The church where a person is baptized is considered their church of origin, and records of other sacraments in their life, such as marriage, should be sent back to the baptismal church and the original record annotated. This information, as well as other information like parents’ names, birth place, etc., can be very valuable to people engaging in historical and genealogical research.
Who is participating in the work, and how are you engaging them?
I think one of the most pleasantly surprising parts about working with From the Page is the community of transcribers that they have built. Honestly, I expected it to be mainly Archives staff working on the transcriptions, but we have had a large number of people participate. Some only do a page or two and move on, but there are a few very engaged participants, who have really gotten in to the project.
What has surprised you about the process so far? What has been the biggest challenge?
Finding time to use the transcriptions that have been completed so far! In a few months, we have already gotten through more registers than myself and the other Archives staff had gone through in over a year on our own. I never expected this, and am now trying to work on making the transcriptions searchable to the people who need them.
Can you share a meaningful discovery or memorable moment from the project? What advice would you give to another diocesan archive considering a similar effort?
Take advantage of the trial! We had been experimenting with a few different ways to get this done, and all of them were slow going. I saw that the NYC Municipal Archives was working with From the Page, and I did a few transcriptions on their project to try it out. It really seemed to be the exact format that we were looking for—having the image and the transcription on one screen was huge, as was being able to insert a spreadsheet as a transcription field. I gave it a try with the free trial, and that really helped me make my case in-house for the funding for a full subscription.
Ready to start a project on FromThePage? Schedule a call with Ben and Sara!
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