207 Matching Annotations
  1. May 2025
    1. ”How do we scope this aspect of the project in terms of storytelling in a story map? How many family names do we match up here? How much space?“

      The directionality of these question marks needs to be reversed.

    2. what are you already doing as a descendant, right? What is it that, what is your project? And how can I create a spirit of or a trust that there’s going to be some reciprocity in this relationship?

      Should all of this be formatted as the preceding remark, in quotation marks?

    3. ”Hey, let’s have these events,"

      Curly quotes have been used throughout, so we need a curly quote at end of this comment with the first quote reversed in orientation.

    4. so they will still call the names of places that probably don’t have any population anymore believing in that place.

      Should the end of the sentence also be in quotation marks?

    5. Project’s

      shouldn't this be "project's"? Or if you're considering this word as a tile, is it too generic? In the latter case, should you lengthen it to something like "the Freedom Colonies Project"? I am asking, rather than imposing on your decision.

  2. Mar 2024
  3. Feb 2024
    1. Letter 22

      You will need to decide how or whether to represent the pen tests/practice letter "J" at the end of this letter, along with other similar material features of these letters--either generally in the introduction or individually with a note where you find them in the letters.

    2. P.S. Alfred, Has Lucy115 mill[illegible] John [illegible] back Heifer yet?

      I believe "Has" is actually "Hes"

      "mill[illegible]: "milleked," probably meaning "milked" "John" is "Johns" as in "John's" The second illeg. may be "lined"; "back" makes more sense than "beck," which is the way I construe this word, but I don't see any other "a" formations with a loop like the second letter. Perhaps research can help construe this word.

    3. Letter 24: John C. Miller, New York City, NY, to Phebe and Alfred Miller, Downsville, NY, April 30, 1864. References to the ending of the Miller’s marriage

      I am confused by this header: the letter appears to be addressed to Lucy Cook?

    4. Alfred,120 I was pleased to learn that you are doing so well, and I am pleased that you did not sell or trade off [illegible]. The weather is as backward here, but all in good time. I would have you write in your next letter how you have succeeded in raising lambs, and calves, tell me how you get along in every thing it will help to relieve the shrill monotony of this contemptable Hospitel life. I would have you write in your next letter how you have succeeded in raising lambs, and calves, tell me how you get along in every thing it will help to relieve the shrill monotony of this contemptable hospital life. As yet, I have not rec’d or heard from the papers, perhaps they are on the way.

      Where is the manuscript image for this note to Alfred?

    5. recussocite

      I think this word is "recussote" ("resuscitate"); his "o" in several places looks like an "i" without the i-dot or an "e", and I think the latter is the case here because he is very consistent with i-dots.

    6. as[illegible]

      Although I agree that the second letter looks like her "s" it also slightly resembles the "r" (see "troubles"), so he may write "arduus" ("arduous").

    7. Possibly a reference to Lucy Cook, who likely lived with the Millers at some point.

      But doesn't the use of "yet" imply that she would have been living with them at this moment? Are you sure this identification is correct?

    8. bul[frug] I have got to New York alive. I have got in a hospital. It is quite a comfortable place. I have got under a good doctor. I think he will straighten me up. I often think of you. I want to see you but it is as present that I can’t. If I cannot see you, I think of you whenever I comb my hair or blow my nose. I am the same man I was when I left there and I haven’t changed my mind. I often think of the time that is past and gone, I often think of the bullfrogs.

      I think these letters are clear enough and do not need brackets. He may intend "bull frog"

    9. [illegible]

      This word may be "abeer"; the letter following "b" has been overwritten over another letter, but this sounds like the son of someone whose name may be "Abraham" or "Abner" or something like that. Can you research local folks to see whether that search might enable us to construe this word?

    10. cars

      I am only spot checking here, but it appears that Sarah characteristically makes all of her "c" letter capital "C", and the same with "g" as "G," regardless of their placement. Can you comment, since you are more familiar with her hand than I am?

    11. Phebe Miller

      Should this letter note that it is also addressed to John and to his other male children who are old enough to do work in the field and around the house? See my comments below on some of the illegible material.

    12. Fields Miller. Alonzo’s cousin.

      If you are using punctuation, it will be necessary to form a complete sentence; the same principle applies if you begin more than one sentence with an incomplete sentence. Consistency is the important idea here. I would suggest something like "This is a reference to Fields Miller, Alonzo's cousin.

    13. There are possible allusions to infidelity on the part of Phebe Miller, but nothing can be proven.

      Please change to active voice, something to the effect of "Miller may also suggest that Phebe has been unfaithful."

    14. wet nurses could leave their children

      Could you clarify this point? Typically, a wet nurse is someone a family hires to nurse newborns. Are you suggesting that wet nurses bring the children of those who had hired them to the hospital, or are the infants the biological child of the hired wet nurse?

    15. Miller is clearly listed as being 21 at the time of enlistment, yet his gravestone cites his birth year as 1831, which would make him born long before his parents John and Phebe married and age 30 when he enlisted in 1861

      PLease clarify this sentence. Something like "Although Miller is listed as age 21 at the time of his enlistment, other information may contradict that citation. If, as his grave stone suggests, he were born in 1831--long before his parents John and Phebe married and suggesting that he had attained the age of 30 when he enlisted in 1861."

    16. The most likely possibility for the referencing of “old britches” is that this is an allusion to John C. Miller or someone else causing Phebe Miller to become pregnant

      Please clarify and simplify this sentence to something like "Miller apparently suggests that he or someone else impregnated Phebe Miller . . ."

    17. but alludes

      Can you clarify--something like "November, 1862. Miller's description of the development of the virus 'downstairs' alludes to his welcome escape from developing orchitis, . . ."

    18. Possibly a reference

      I'm not sure I follow this note. Are you suggesting that the women may allude to Charlotte's recent delivery of daughter Charlotte? Please clarify.

    1. Readers can switch between the faithful transcriptions and their regularized, more readable counterparts by clicking the "Show Edited Text" button in the top right corner of the screen.

      Might you add something to the effect that you hope that the regularized portion of this edition can make this information as widely accessible as possible, including K-12 students and teachers?

    2. The “corrected” letters attempt to make the syntax flow better by

      For clarity, suggest "In the regularized section of this edition I exchange phonetically . . ."

    3. since a faithful transcription of the letters does not aid in the comprehension of the documents’ content, I

      Simplify for clarity: something like "since a faithful transcription of the letters may read confusingly, I have . . . ."

    4. Words that are partially illegible are also put into square brackets

      For accuracy, Samantha, it would be best to place square brackets only around letters that are unclear. The whole word isn't unclear, correct?

    5. This letter—showing remarkable penmanship—reveals John’s antipathy towards President Abraham Lincoln and the Republican party,

      The letter can't call out Lincoln, but John can. Suggest you review to "In this letter . . . John reveals his antipathy . . ."

    6. Alonzo (1839-1916), Christina (b. 1839)

      Were Alonzo and Christina twins, or is one of these birth dates incorrect--or did she become pregnant almost immediately after giving birth to Alonzo?

    7. Since a faithful transcription of the letters does not aid in the comprehension of the documents’ content, I have also produced a “corrected” version of the documents that allows readers to better understand the material. The “corrected” letters attempt to make the syntax flow better by exchanging phonetically spelled words and phrases for their correct ones, adding additional punctuation, and adding minor grammatical/pronoun changes to aid in understanding the sentence’s subject(s). For example, in Letter 2, the writer references “clover in blow,” likely meaning “in bloom,” so the edited version of Letter 2 uses the word “bloom” to aid in comprehension. Readers can switch between the accurate transcriptions and the regularized, more readable version by clicking the "Show Edited Text" button in the top right corner of the screen. In some notes, I have abbreviated John C. Miller’s name to his initials, JCM.

      This regularized feature of the edition makes the preceding paragraph unnecessary, right? The editorial theory needs to be laid out more carefully before this edition can move on to copyediting.

    8. In some instances, when paragraph spaces are not apparent, they are added and paragraphs separated to aid in presentation.

      How does this editorial policy cohere with other policies that attempt to carefully replicate the syntax and other features of the manuscript? Your editorial policy must be consistent.

    9. f a portion of illegible text is suspected to be a certain word or phrase, the assumed transcription is placed in brackets as well. If portions of a word are unable to be deciphered, but the correct spelling is suspected, the correct spelling is used in the original transcription.

      These two sentences are unclear. What is your editorial policy here? Are you suggesting that unclear readings are placed in brackets? Please simplify your prose.

    10. The undated letters/documents were sequenced into the timeline by using the evidence presented within to deduce the location of the writer, and from there, the likely date of creation.

      Reword using active voice. Something like "Internal evidence suggests a timeline for these undated letters . . . . "

    11. prevents any resounding conclusions

      Can you reword in such a way that you refrain from weakening your argument? You suggest that you are challenging traditional readings on Northern women.

    12. In more recent years, a dearth of textual evidence on rural Northern women has pushed scholarship of gender and the Civil War into examination of masculine experience.

      Simplify, please.

    13. Indeed, as much more textual evidence exists pertaining to middle-class Northern women, many historians have focused on the Civil War as a catalyst for women to “demonstrate their right to political inclusion by means of economic and personal sacrifices”7 or view Northern women as “forebears of the Rosie the Riveters of World War II” who “seized new economic opportunities” in the midst of a national crisis.8 Study of Union nurses as the archetypal method of impact on Northern women also serves to reinforce the idea that “domestic geography” of the private sphere was somehow “safe from…the ravages of war.”9

      This paragraph is unclear. Can you simplify your verbs and break up the sentences? Are you suggesting that more evidence exists now than had been the case historically?

    14. which

      unclear antecedent. Perhaps "Scholarship on Northern, Civil-War-era women typically focuses on middle-class . . . nurses; this edition seeks to challenge that perspective."

    15. this

      Reword this sentence for clarity and rhetorical force. Something like: "Moreover, they expand our understanding of the variety of wartime threats to women's lives, over and above material deprivation, invasion, or occupation."