Using this Site
General
The Wyandot Heritage Digital Archive includes correspondence, postal history, legal documents, treaties, journals, tribal rolls, census records, diaries, ledger books, maps, photographs, paintings, drawings and items of material culture. If you are new to the site, become familiar with its contents by browsing the Items, Collections and Exhibits elements above. Clarifying Tags are provided for Items that have not been fully transcribed and for non-textual material culture objects. See Browse by Tag under Browse Items. You can annotate a record or page by signing up for Hypothesis. (To register, go to the three elements on the top right of the page and click on the arrow).
Begin your search by clicking on the Browse Items tab. Click on the Search Items tab and enter your key term(s). Hit your Return key or click on the Enter button at the bottom of the page. When the results appear, click on Sort by Title to place Items in chronological order.
You can also search the entire site by entering key terms in the box on the upper right and then clicking on the magnifying glass icon or pressing the return key on your keyboard. If your search terms are three characters or less, such as "map," "sun," sky," and the like, click the three dots to the left of the magnifying glass icon and select Exact match before clicking on the magnifying glass icon or pressing the return key on your keyboard. This works for personal names, such as "Willam Henry Harrison," as well.
Be sure to consider possible variations of your search terms, keeping in mind that spelling is not always regularized, even in the case of family names. For example, a search for the family name Greyeyes should include Grey Eyes as well as Grey-eyes.
You can also conduct boolean searches to constrain your search results by selecting Boolean. The following guidelines apply:
+: a leading plus sign indicates that this word must be present in each record that is returned.
-: a leading minus sign indicates that this word must not be present in any of the records that are returned.
*: an appended asterisk serves as the truncation (or wildcard) operator. Words match if they begin with the word preceding the * operator.
": a phrase that is enclosed within double quote characters matches only records that contain the phrase literally, as it was typed.
Understanding Your Search Results
If you perform a query of the database using the search box, the first column of your search results will indicate Record Type, such as:
Item These are the building blocks of the database. With the exception of Simple Pages, all other elements, such as Files and populated metadata fields, are linked to an Item.
If you want to limit your search, say, to Items from a particular year, you can either [1] go to Browse Items and then Search Items or [2] click on the three dots to the left of the magnifying glass icon and go to the Advanced Search (Items Only) portal. Under the Narrow by Specific Fields label, choose Date in the first column, contains in the second column, and the specific year in the third. Hit "return" or scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Search for Items. When the search results appear, click on Sort by: Title to arrange entries in chronological order.
When you open an Item record, there is a colored box to the right, with Date Added, Collection, Item Type, and Citation. At the end of the Citation string is items/show/ followed by a number. This number corresponds to the numeric ID of the Item in the database. Use this number under the Advanced Search (Items Only) portal and Search by a range of ID#s in order to return to an Item without having to remember your search parameters.
File When a PDF File appears in your search results the scanned text has been indexed by Omeka and contains your search term(s). If the File is more than a page or two in length, there are several ways to determine the precise location of your search term(s) in the File:
[1]Searchable PDFsDepending upon the browser you are using you may be able to search PDF files both in the Item environment and as an unlinked File.
[2]Searching Indexed TextIf your browser does not allow you to search PDFs directly, go to the unlinked PDF File. Press "command" and "F" to bring up a small text search window. Type in your search term(s) and hit "return" to generate results. The #/# indicates your current location (the number before the forward slash) and how many total pages there are in the document (the number after the forward slash). Clicking on the down arrow takes you through the document with the key term or phrase highlighted.
[3]Searching by Downloading the FileAnother option is to download the linked or unlinked file and open it using your preferred PDF reader to search the file.
A link to the free Adobe PDF reader is here: Adobe
Note that when a File appears in your search results, it has been temporarily unlinked from its parent Item. In order to determine to which Item the File is linked, refer to your initial search results (using the back arrow key on the upper left of your browser) and look for an Item that most closely corresponds to the key words in the File name. Click on the Item record to confirm that the target File is linked. If there is no obvious parent Item in the listing, conduct a new search box query using unique key terms derived from the PDF file name.
Collection A Collection is the real world physical location of an Item. Most Items will be linked to a specific identifiable Collection. By clicking on a Collection link you can quickly determine which Items in the database are from that particular source. The Collection listings may also direct you to additional resources through Collections Finding Aids. Exceptions include the Unknown Collection, Private Collection designations, as well as Multiple Holding Institutions, which is used for widely held published works such as books and maps on historical topics.
Simple Pages provide additional assistance to help you in your research, including live links to archives, libraries, museums and publications of interest. On this site, the pages are chiefly nested under Biographies, Collections Finding Aids, and Resources.
Saving Your Search Results
If you are using Firefox, once you have completed a satisfactory search go to the top left corner of your browser, click on File and Print.... Click on the PDF button and Open PDF in Preview to review the formatting. Included will be your search parameters and an illustrated listing of the results. Item-only searches will include title and Item number, image (if available), a short description and any keyword Tags associated with the Item. Export or print as desired. Saving your results using Chrome or Safari is a similar process.
Legal Matters
The Wyandot Heritage Digital Archive ("Wyandot Heritage") is a non-commercial educational site. Its content is provided by a community of scholars, archivists, genealogists, historians and other interested individuals dedicated to the principle of open access for purposes of promoting and enhancing scholarly inquiry into the history of First Nations. Any commercial use of Wyandot Heritage content requires the explicit written consent of the copyright holder.
1. By using Wyandot Heritage you agree to be legally bound by these terms, which shall take effect immediately upon your first use of Wyandot Heritage. If you do not agree to be legally bound by all the following terms please do not access and/or use Wyandot Heritage.
2. The administrators of Wyandot Heritage may change these terms at any time by posting changes online. Please review these terms regularly to ensure that you are aware of any changes made by the administrators of Wyandot Heritage. Your continued use of Wyandot Heeritage after changes are posted means you agree to be legally bound by these terms as updated and/or amended.
3. You may not copy, reproduce, republish, download, post, broadcast, transmit, make available to the public, or otherwise use Wyandot Heritage content in any way except for your own personal, non-commercial use. You also agree not to adapt, alter or create a derivative work from any Wyandot Heritae content except for your own personal, non-commercial use.
4. Any commercial use of Wyandot Heritage content requires the prior written permission of the copyright owners of said content. The copyright status of items archived in Wyandot Heritage can be found in the Rights field of the Dublin Core metadata element set. If the Rights field is empty, please consult the repository for the original document or artifact. Contact information can be found under Collections Finding Aids.
5. You agree to use Wyandot Heritage only for lawful purposes, and in a way that does not infringe the rights of, restrict or inhibit anyone's use and enjoyment of Wyandot Heritage.
6. Wyandot Heritage content, including the information, names, images, pictures, logos and icons regarding or relating to the site, its products and services (or to third party products and services), is provided "AS IS" and on an "AS AVAILABLE" basis without any representations or any kind of warranty made (whether express or implied by law) to the extent permitted by law, including the implied warranties of satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, compatibility, security and accuracy.
7. Under no circumstances will the Wyandot Heritage administrators be liable for any of the following losses or damage (whether such losses where foreseen, foreseeable, known or otherwise): (a) loss of data; (b) loss of revenue or anticipated profits; (c) loss of business; (d) loss of opportunity; (e) loss of goodwill or injury to reputation; (f) losses suffered by third parties; or (g) any indirect, consequential, special or exemplary damages arising from the use of Wyandot History regardless of the form of action. All users of the electronic resources of Wyandot History agree to hold the site administrators harmless for any and all claims, losses or damages, obligations or liabilities directly or indirectly relating to the use of the website.
8. While all reasonable efforts will be made to ensure that Wyandot Heritage remains fully functional, the administrators of Wyandot History do not warrant that functions contained in Wyandot Heritage content will be uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected, or that the server that makes it available is virus free.