Venable reports that he was with refugees from Mormon burning of Gallatin, and that they included several women who were pregnant and had been forced out.

Paleography, or the reading of old handwriting, is a skill one slowly develops with practice. The best way to start is transcribing manuscripts that already have a published transcription available. This lets you check your work and reaffirm your developing knowledge. For this assignment you are to transcribe into a word document the following two historical documents. Before you begin this assignment read through the overview of strategies for transcription in the Research Skills module Transcribing Archival Sources
(make sure you click the”next” button after the first page to get to handouts and guides)
Directions: Transcribe all of Item one and 20 lines from Item 2.
You should not check the official transcription until you finish your own attempt. Your transcription should use standard conventions, including expanding out abbreviations, retaining original spelling and line breaks, noting any damaged or illegible sections, and describing any visual characteristics such as writing going in a different direction, overwriting, corrections, edits, and descriptions of drawings or diagrams. If there are lines you can’t read, note the illegible words or sentences and retain the original layout as much as possible.
Your transcriptions should be created using word-processing software and uploaded as a .pdf
Item 1: Missouri State Archives, Affidavit of Samuel Venable, October 22, 1838
Venable AffidavitDownload Venable Affidavit
10/22/1838
Affidavit of Samuel Venable
Venable reports that he was with refugees from Mormon burning of Gallatin, and that they included several women who were pregnant and had been forced out.
Original with transcription available here: https://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/findingaids/rg005-01Links to an external site.
Item 2 (pick 20 lines from the letter and note which page you are working on. If you work on the map, make sure you do your best to describe the drawing, not just copy out the words)
Starr Letter to Father Download Starr Letter to Father
Frederick Starr, Jr. Papers, 1850-1863
State Historical Society of Missouri
Letter from Frederick Starr to his Father, August 1, 1854
 

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