arly California baptismal record.
[Photo
courtesy Huntington Library]
Because
of the ECPP database, the public, according to the
ECCP website,
now has access to the facts contained in the
California mission registers from 1769 – 1850.
These registers hold the baptism, marriage, and
burial records of each of the California missions
and offer “an extraordinary wealth of unique
information on the Indians, soldiers, and settlers
of Alta California.”
|
Early California baptismal record.
[Photo
courtesy Huntington Library]
|
Project
leaders developed the database because original
California mission registers are “too old and
too brittle [for the public] to handle.”
Further, many of the registers, and their poor
quality microfilm recordings, are written in
eighteenth-century Spanish script. Transcribing
them for the ECPP online database demands “the
rare skills and enormous effort” of data entry
specialists proficient in Spanish and paleography.
The
California State Library helped meet that demand.
The California State Library’s LSTA funds paid
for a data entry specialist to create records in
the ECPP database. State Librarian Susan Hildreth
says, ”We at the California State Library are
pleased to play a part in this outstanding project
which opens the door on the history of our
state’s early residents.”
For
more information about the ECPP project please
visit their website.
