Begin the search through the collection with either the on line index/calendar or the off line index/calendar. Both are text searchable pdfs.  All the items in the calendar are hyperlinked to the first image of the item.

Do a full search with words and phrases using the search engine of the pdf and view the search results by activating the hyperlink (clicking the mouse on the item).

Once you view the item, you may want to check to see if it has been transcribed which you can only do on line.  If it has not been transcribed and/or edited, and you wish to be helpful with further, more detailed indexing of the collection, transcribe the item following the instructions provided.  Over time the transcriptions will be indexed by spiders that are permitted to index electronic finding aids, in particular the indexing engine of the Maryland State Archives.

At present (September 11, 2009) transcription is provided through a rudimentary WIKI that has few editorial assists and is awkward to use.  As resources permit, the Maryland State Archives will improve upon the model to make transcription and editing easier (especially of tables and charts), but until then a strait text transcription of the images line by line, with any standardized html coding you would like to deploy is all that we ask, leaving complicated tables and charts to another day.

Ed Papenfuse
September 11, 2009