FAQs
How to find...
Annotations
Go to Resources > Enter a word in the search bar > Click Search. Launch multiple searches with different spellings, if applicable. If you are looking for a word in a transcription or an annotation, switch to the Annotation tab (top left) to see text results. There are two types of annotations in the repository: (1) annotated words in notarial documents, maps, and guidebooks, and (2) transcriptions of notarial documents.
Guidebooks
Go to Resources > Click on Filters (top right) > Click on Document type > Select Guidebook > Click Done (bottom right of Filters box). You can continue to refine the results using additional metadata filters.
Maps
Go to Resources > Click on Filters (top right) > Click on Document type > Select Map > Click Done (bottom right of Filters box). You can continue to refine the results using additional metadata filters.
Notarial documents
The fastest way to find all the notarial documents in our repository is to go to our landing page > Click on the Notarial documents tile under Resources. This takes you to a pre-filtered search. Once you are in the repository, click on Filters (top right) to continue to refine the results using additional metadata filters.
People
Go to Resources > Enter the name of a person in the search bar > Click Search. Launch multiple searches with different spellings, if applicable.
Places
Go to Resources > Enter the name of a place in the search bar > Click Search. Launch multiple searches with different spellings if applicable. If you are looking for one of the churches mentioned in the documents, they have dedicated essays in Resources.
How to use...
Data
You can find our data on GitHub. It is not extractable directly from this repository.
Filters
Go to Resources > Click on Filters (top right) > Click on a metadata category (e.g., Collection, Date) to see all the available options. Click Clear all to start over or Done to close the Filters box.
IIIF manifests
IIIF manifests are exportable for use with other IIIF viewers and platforms. They can be found on the individual page of a notarial document, map, or guidebook. Click on the IIIF icon above the image viewer to view the manifest or to copy its URL. IIIF collections for the entire set of notarial documents, maps, and guidebooks are linked from our GitHub README doc.
Search bar
The search bar appears at the top of every page. Enter a word in the text box and click Search.
How to cite...
To cite this project or a specific notarial document, map, guidebook, or annotation, please see our guidelines on How to cite.
Formats
The website is HTML served with static pages that live on GitHub. The only exportable formats are IIIF manifests and IIIF collections. XML exports or other downloadable data are not available for this repository. Our data is publicly available on GitHub.
Transcriptions
The document transcriptions follow a modified version of Alessandro Guidotti’s “Le norme di trascrizione,” Rivista d’arte 37 (1984): 377–399. More information is available on Transcription Conventions.
Glossary
Annotation
Annotations are notes on a document, map, or guidebook. They are visually rendered as a box around a word or object, and they are linked to text visible under the image viewer.
Collection
Collections are the site of provenance of a notarial document, map, or guidebook. A collection can be in a larger archive or library.
Document type
Document type refers to the metadata category we applied to a notarial document, map, or guidebook. For maps and guidebooks, the document type matches the object, however there are several document types for notarial documents (e.g., meeting, rental, obligation). All the document types are listed in Filters.
Filter
Filters are metadata categories you can use to sort the material available in this repository. Filters are clustered by main categories: Collection, Date, Document type, Key terms, and Volume. Each category has further subcategories.
Key term
Key terms are words assigned to each document that summarize its content. There are 228 key terms in the repository. Key terms are searchable via the Filters box on Resources and are also visible on the left-hand side of individual pages pertaining to notarial documents, maps, or guidebooks.
Place essay
A place essay is an essay about a church mentioned in the documents, found in Research. There are five place essays dedicated to the following sites: Church of San Giuseppe dei Falegnami, Church of San Luca, Church of San Pietro in Carcere, Church of Santa Martina, and Church of Santi Luca e Martina.
Transcription
A transcription is the typed text next to a notarial document that reflects its content, word for word. All notarial document transcriptions were created by paleographic scholars. Generative AI has not been used to transcribe or annotate historical sources.
Volume
A volume is the container of a group of notarial documents as preserved in the original archive.
More questions? Contact us: TheCenter@NGA.GOV