Cemetery Corner

Committee Update

The Cemetery Committee has been busy creating some standard templates to assist transcribers in reading a cemetery.

The documents are:

• A Guide to Transcribing Cemetery Records – A useful reference tool for information:
  • On preparatory work to make your time transcribing the cemetery more efficient,
  • On items to bring with you,
  • On documenting the layout of the cemetery,
  • On the information that should be obtained and how to document it,
  • On the different grave markers (includes photos for reference),
  • On the different abbreviations you may find, and
  • On how to complete the spreadsheet to send back to MGS.
• Cemetery Transcription Spreadsheet – This document is sent to the transcriber to document the information in a format that allows a MGS volunteer to upload it to MANI and to create the Cemetery Transcription document.
• Cemetery Transcription Document – We have finalized the look of and the content for the document you will receive when you place an order. It will take us awhile to update all the word documents and PDFs we already have, so during the transition you may still receive the older version.

Transcribers Needed for Cemeteries, War Memorials and Cenotaphs.

The standard documents, mentioned above, will provide helpful information to make transcribing cemeteries easier and outline the information we would like collected. With these documents we hope more of our members will feel comfortable to re-read cemeteries throughout Manitoba.

I am currently auditing our cemetery holdings that contain 1,700+ cemeteries and more than 435,000 grave marker transcriptions. As I progress through these documents I am making a list of the cemeteries that need to be updated. This will aid our transcribers in choosing a cemetery close to them.

Another project is the collection of War Memorials and Cenotaphs. We would like to collect information on their location, as well as, two photos: (1) of the entire memorial, and (2) of the nameplate. This information may be extracted from Local History books. A spreadsheet will be available for the documentation of this information.

If you are interested and would like to be a transcriber please contact me at shaunmgsvolunteer@gmail.com.

Manitobans Remembered has started. Every Thursday a new short biography will be posted on both our website and our Facebook page highlighting a Manitoban that has died and is buried in a Manitoba Cemetery. The first biography was posted 17 January 2022 and featured Yoshimaru Abe (1914-2006). If you would like to submit a short bio of an individual please submit the bio, with the name of the individual and the cemetery they are buried in, to my attention at shaunmgsvolunteer@gmail.com.

Shaun Hobson #5336
Cemetery Committee Chair