Encoding Guide. Introduction

Project Goal
The goal of the Adams Papers Control File Digitization project is to convert all 108,400 paper records that make up the “Control File” into an XML database, made available at the Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) website. The vendor will tag the data using abbreviated tags created by the MHS staff, which will be transformed later into a formal schema.

Record Content
The Control File is a paper catalogue used by the Adams Papers Editorial Project. It represents approximately 108,400 documents in the Adams Family Papers archive held by the MHS. The entire run of paper records has been photographed on 16mm microfilm and those 42 reels of microfilm will be used by the data entry vendor to convert the content into 42 XML files.

Each record (which represents a document) is recorded on a four (4) by six (6) inch slip of paper and each slip of paper is presented on one frame of microfilm. The information on each slip of paper can be broken down into 14 (fourteen) content tags. The data entry vendor will tag the data based on these fourteen categories. The project staff at the MHS will parse those categories further, as needed.