OCRed data provided
for searching only. editorial note xxvii
of Congress (HW2105) and that a transcription of this document is found in the Huntington Library (LN2408, 2:361¬64), where LN2408 is the designation for the three bound volumes containing the Springer transcriptions and 2:361¬64 indicates that the transcription of HW2105 is found in the second volume on leaves 361¬64. In cases where no original is known and the text is taken from the Springer transcription, as with the ‚rst item in this work, the Huntington Library designa‚tion is listed by itself: HL: LN2408, 2:340¬41. Originals are also found in the Jesse
W. Weik Collection in the Illinois State Historical Library, and these are listed as ISHL: Weik Papers, followed by the appropriate box number. A very small num‚ber of documents come from other sources, which are duly identi‚ed following the text.
Dating
For undated documents, a conjectural date is usually printed in italic type within square brackets. Undated documents for which there is a Springer transcription may be presumed to have been written between May 1865 and the end of No‚vember 1866; where no more precise indication can be given, the date for these is given as [1865¬66] and they are ranked alphabetically by informant between November 30 and December 1. Other conjectural dates have been based on evi‚dence such as the paper on which the document was written, the general content, or indicative references in the text. The presence of a question mark indicates a degree of uncertainty about the dating; its absence implies the contrary. In some cases, the date for undated documents has been taken from that given in Hern‚don and Weik's biography, but as the dates given there are often demonstrably wrong, the editors have exercised restraint in adopting them and urge caution in their use.
Order
The general order of the entries in each of parts 1¬4 is chronological. For dated material, the placement is straightforward, but undated documents present a sep‚arate problem. Where there is no indication of when the document was written, it is marked [undated] and ranked at the end of the category to which it belongs. Documents for which there is evidence only of the year (as when an informant's age is given) are ranked after dated documents from that year. Where there is ev‚idence of the chronological range of the document, it is ranked after the dated documents in the latest year. In the sequencing of undated interviews with the same informant, Herndon's numbering on the back of the manuscript, where present, has usually been followed, with exceptions noted.
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