Colonial Despatches

We will need to produce duplicates for some of the files in the 1861 collection, specifically, for documents that appear as letter-book copies in 398/1 and as originals in the RG7 G8C 9 collection.

We will handle this process as we have done before in previous collections.

This concerns documents that appear in both letter-book and original form, and how to handle this crossover.

For example, we found a dozen or so documents in 1859 that are part of the 398/1 (BC series) and RG7G8C (VI series) collections, respectively. We decided that it was best to show both, but alert the reader to the copy or original, from each respective document.

So, in the RG7G8C version of this file, we added this note:

<note xml:id="B597018_1">Please note that this document exists as a <ref type="doc" cRef="V597018.scx">letter-book copy</ref>, as part of the British Columbia collection.</note>

And in this document, the 398/1 version, we added this note:

<note xml:id="V597011_1">The original form of this correspondence <ref type="doc" cRef="B597011.scx">can be viewed here</ref>. Please note that the original was marked initially as part of the Vancouver Island collection, and changed thereafter, presumably after receipt, to the British Columbia collection.</note>

For now, we have worked through most of the 1859 collection for duplicates. We will have to check in the CO410 collection for the same issue, and do the same for all applicable years.

This is a call to remove B587055A.xml from the coldesp collection, as it is a duplicate of B587056A.xml.

B587055A.xml is incomplete in its transcription of a private letter found in the 398/1 image collection. B587056A.xml, however, provides a complete transcription and, moreover, it follows the correct sequence within the 398/1 image-collection.

As the year wraps up, I thought I would jot a quick note as we head into holidays.

I continue to add pb tags to the 1859 files. Along the way, I have discovered that we need to process a few more image batches, as follows:

CO 60/5

CO 60/6

CO 398/1

The above contain a sum of roughly 120 despatches from 1859

I will ask Theo to work on this in the new year. Between the two of us, we should make short work of it!