[Ads-l] Suggested method for determining dates in the Fulton History database

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

This message was inspired by the discussion of an unreadable date on a
newspaper page containing an early instance of: "Teddy" bears.

When I have trouble determining the date of a newspaper page in the
Fulton History database I examine adjacent newspaper pages. Initially,
I look at the page that should have a number that is one lower than
the target page.

How do you get to adjacent pages? There is a clumsy technique that
works. First you must obtain the url of the target page. The urls at
the Fulton History are long and complicated. It is possible to
simplify the url by looking for the extension "pdf" and removing
material from the url after the "pdf" extension. Further below is the
url for the newspaper page containing the advertisement for Teddy
bears. The number at the very end of the url is a page index. See
"204107.pdf". You modify the url by decreasing the page index by 1.
See the second url below which ends with "204106.pdf". The second url
points to the newspaper page adjacent to the target page. The date of
November 19, 1905 is visible on the adjacent page.

To double check you may examine the page numbers visible in both
images. The target page has a page number of 7. The adjacent page has
a page number of 6.

You can look at other pages by changing the page index, but you must
be careful because when you change the index too much you will be
pointing to a newspaper issue with a different date. You may even
point to a different newspaper. I suggest changing the page index by
one, two, three, etc. and using an iterative strategy if the adjacent
page is unreadable. You can go to the front page if there is some
uncertainty about the name of the newspaper.

You may be tempted to jump directly to the front page by subtracting
the page number from the counter (and adding one). This sometimes
fails because the automated microfilm scanner sometimes scans double
pages, and sometimes a page is skipped or repeated etc.

(Because the urls below are long they may be split and broken in
transit. The urls in the ADS archive copy of this message should be
ok, I think.)

http://www.fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2016/Syracuse%20NY%20Herald/Syracuse%20NY%20Herald%201905/Syracuse%20NY%20Herald%201905%20-%204107.pdf

http://www.fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2016/Syracuse%20NY%20Herald/Syracuse%20NY%20Herald%201905/Syracuse%20NY%20Herald%201905%20-%204106.pdf

Garson

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