The Tombstone Transcription Project
By Pamela Brown Reid
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~cemetery

About This Project 

We who research our family's history are good at remembering. We remember often
and we remember well. But, our memories last for only as long as we are here.
The purpose of this project is to organize volunteers who will work together to
create a lasting tribute to our ancestors. We will transcribe tombstone
inscriptions and have that work archived for the future and made easily
accessible to all. 

The tombstones of our ancestors were always meant to be lasting memorials to the
lives of those gone before. Lately, I have been visiting old cemeteries and have
been distressed to see how these memorials are suffering the ravages of time and
weather. Many of these stones are becoming difficult to read and some have
already gotten so faint that deciphering them is next to impossible.
Fortunately, many are still legible TODAY. But, of those we can read today, how
many will still be legible ten or twenty years from today? 

WE need to record these tombstone inscriptions now---before they are lost
forever to the winds and the rains. Though many cemeteries have already been
recorded by various Genealogical Societies, just as many have not. And, of those
recorded, how accessible is that data to the world? If we join together and do
this recording, we will guarantee that our ancestors an not forgotten----that
their memorials will live on so that future generations may remember then as
well as we do. 

What Can YOU do? 

You CAN participate in this project, even if you live thousands of miles from
the graves of your ancestors. If you live in California and your ancestors sleep
in Virginia, you can record tombstone data in a cemetery near where you live. If
you are in Texas and your ancestors sleep in Maine, record a Texas cemetery. 

After the recording is done, the data should be donated to The USGenWeb Project
Archives for the appropriate state. If you have already compiled tombstone
information, you can donate that to the project. Having this data archived in a
repository like The USGenWeb Project Archives will make this information
accessible to the world. Many can benefit and the memories can be multiplied
many times over. If you don't know how to donate this information, email me and
I will help. 

How To Join This Project 

Won't you please join in this endeavor? Won't you please organize interested
individuals in your area into a group to record this important data? Local
churches might be willing to have a few members record the data in the
cemeteries on the church grounds. Genealogy clubs and societies are a natural to
participate in a project of this nature. Or, individuals can go out and record
the data themselves. For example, my 14-year-old daughter and I plan to do this
together. 

I have created a registry, by state and county, of individuals and groups who
plan to record cemetery data for our project. That registry is available for
viewing here (Visit the Registry Page), so that everyone can see which
cemeteries are being recorded and who is doing that transcribing. 

We are compiling the data and forwarding the files for deposit in The USGenWeb
Project Archives for the appropriate state. You can certainly donate this data
yourself directly to the Archives file manager for the state. Either way is
fine, since our goal is to get the transcriptions archived. Visit The USGenWeb
Project Archives page for more information about submitting files to each state
Archives File Manager. 

Now, all that you need to do is to pick a cemetery to record and register that
cemetery with us. 

Visit The Tombstone Transcription Project's Getting Started Page for tips on
surveying cemeteries, transcribing the inscriptions, and formatting the data. 

Let's work together in this endeavor!

For more information see:

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~cemetery
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~cemetery/registry.html
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb
http://www.oklahoma.net/~davidm/grave.htm

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