New at the Maryland State Archives

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Maryland State Archives
What's New?
Scanning Index Cards
The Maryland State Archives is in the process of scanning and making accessible the card indexes normally available only in the search room. Each card index will be fully incorporated into the Guide for Government Records as soon as they are completed.
The first index scanned is Index 6, MARYLAND INDEXES (Marriage Licenses and Records, Index) 1649-1886, MSA SE27. Almost 90,000 cards were scanned and OCR'd in batches of approximately 500 cards each and converted to PDF format. The file sizes range from approximately 2.4 mb to 3 mb. This format will be followed for subsequent indexes.
To view a PDF file, you need Adobe Reader, a free Acrobat Plug-in for Web browsers that enables PDF files to be viewed inside a browser window.
With this software installed, click on the link to a batch and scroll through the batch using the arrow keys at the bottom of the PDF viewer screen (the total number of cards in the batch shows in this small window). To search for information on each batch of cards once they are loaded into your browser, use the Search link (binoculars) on the Acrobat tool bar, or right click on a card and click on Search. Type in the word or phrase to be searched (e.g., Rebecca) and hit the search key. If a match is found on any of the cards in the batch, it will be listed in the box below the search criteria. You can click on any one of these choices and the card will pop up on the screen. You can only search through the batch that is open on your screen.
Please note: these cards have been OCR'd as accurately as possible but have not been individually edited. There may be mistakes in spelling or the OCR work. Direct your search as you would for any genealogical search for names, use variant spellings or just page through the cards, as a last resort.
NEW INDEXES ONLINE

MARYLAND INDEXES (Marriage Licenses and Records, Index) 1649-1886, MSA SE27

Definitions:

OCR (optical character recognition) is the recognition of printed or written text characters by a computer. This involves photo-scanning of the text character-by-character, analysis of the scanned-in image, and then translation of the character image into character codes.
OCR is being used by libraries to digitize and preserve their holdings. OCR is also used to process checks and credit card slips and sort the mail. Billions of magazines and letters are sorted every day by OCR machines, considerably speeding up mail delivery.
Source: http://www.planetech.co.uk/glossary.htm
PDF (Portable Document Format) is a multi-platform file format developed by Adobe Systems. A PDF file captures document text, fonts, images, and even formatting of documents from a variety of applications. You can e-mail a PDF document to your friend and it will look the same way on his screen as it looks on yours, even if he has a Mac and you have a PC. Since PDFs contain color-accurate information, they should also print the same way they look on your screen.
To view a PDF file, you need Adobe Reader, a free Acrobat Plug-in for Web browsers that enables PDF files to be viewed inside a browser window.
Source: http://www.sharpened.net/glossary/definition.php?pdf

Questions regarding Archives collections and services should be directed to the Reference Services Department at: ref@mdsa.net
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This information resource of the Maryland State Archives is presented here for fair use in the public domain. When this material is used, in whole or in part, proper citation and credit must be attributed to the Maryland State Archives. PLEASE NOTE: Rights assessment for associated source material is the responsibility of the user.

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