General What is AncestryBank? AncestryBank is one of the largest archives of manuscript images and transcripts from private sources on the web. The “one of a kind” documents range from personal letters to deeds to anything handwritten before 1885. The purpose of the website is to make available any document owned by an individual that has genealogical information. These documents are scanned and transcribed so that the genealogical researcher has an opportunity to find the information about an ancestor they may have been missing since it did not exist in scanned government archives. The images on this site are not located anywhere else on the web. AncestryBank also provides people who own original manuscripts (e.g. letters, deeds, debt issuances, etc.) an opportunity to earn money from those documents. By uploading a high resolution (i.e. readable) image of their document as well as a transcript (optional) of what is written on that document, a person can earn money every time an image of their document is downloaded. Once the image and transcript is uploaded and archived, the provider can sit back and reap the benefits for as long as he or she wants.
*NEW* Ancestrybank has now added the ability for people to place awards in order to solve their genealogy brick wall. This feature allows people to pay exactly how much they want to pay for definitive proof of the question they have about their family history.
How do I create an award? Please follow these steps: - To create an award, you must first register as a New User. Registering and posting an award is completely free. During the registration process, you will see three check boxes. Leave these checked to have all the AncestryBank features available.
- Once you have registered or logged in, you will see a tab called “My Awards.” Click on this tab.
- In the right corner, there is a link called “Post New Award.” Click on this link and this will take you to the form to fill out the information needed to create an award.
- Once you have entered the Objective, Surname, Award Amount, Facts and Possibilities, check on the terms of service box and press “Post this Award” at the bottom. You are finished! You can log into your account and go into the “My Awards” tab to edit your award at any time.
Does every document come with a transcript? No. Document owners are not required to upload a transcript when they archive their document images. If a transcript file is not uploaded with the documents images, the document is placed in the TranscriptionBank, which gives people who would like to transcribe documents an opportunity to earn from their efforts. When purchasing a document, look at the details to see if a transcript is included with the document image(s).
What is the TranscriptionBank? If an owner of a document image does not wish to include a word file transcription when archiving, they simply leave the field blank. This sends the document to the TranscriptionBank. This section of the account management area allows anyone to see 20 randomized documents at a time that do not currently have a transcription attached to the archived database entry. A person then can click on the document to increase the size, write a transcription in a word file, and attach the word file. Every time the document image is purchased, the person who wrote the transcript will receive a quarter. All documents are placed in the searchable database for purchase whether they have a transcript or not.
Are transcripts complete? Due to the difficulty of reading many transcripts, they are not guaranteed to be complete. Many of the people uploading documents are not accustomed to reading pre-1885 letters; therefore we ask that transcripts be a best effort attempt. Within the transcripts, if a word is underlined then that means the word may or may not be correct, and if there is an underline without any letters on it, then it was too difficult to read. We try to provide detailed images so that visitors who purchase the downloads may use a combination of the transcripts and image to figure out a completely readable document. Do you transcribe documents? We currently do not sell services to transcribe documents. In certain instances where an individual wants to upload documents to the site to make available to the public, we will work hard to help them out in this process. Downloading images What is the cost to download an image and transcript? The cost is $5 per image and transcript. Once a search is performed, the results are returned to the visitor. If the visitor wishes to purchase the image and transcript, they will use the shopping cart feature and proceed to checkout. After the payment, the visitor will have unlimited access to their image and transcript and may download it to their computer at any time. Cost to search the database is free.
What type of file is downloaded? The file is a zip file that contains any image and word files related to the purchased document. Most of the recent Windows versions will allow you to open the file once downloaded and others will allow you to simply double click on the downloaded file to see its contents. If yours does not, find a free program such as WinZip and download it so that you may open the file.
How long will my purchased document be available? As long as the site exists. Uploading images What are the prerequisites for uploading images and transcripts onto AncestryBank?
Uploading images is a simple process. The main prerequisite is that you own the document at the time you create the image file of the document and the transcript. The document provider owns the copyright to that image and transcript. He/she cannot take an image of someone else’s document, transcribe it and upload the information to AncestryBank. Check for duplicates. When you are uploading your image/transcript, make sure the document is not already on the site. Sometimes, when original documents change ownership, an instance can occur where the new owner creates an image/transcript and wants to upload only to find the previous owner has done so. We want to prevent having duplicates on the site so that a visitor does not purchase the same thing twice. How many image files can be uploaded at once? We are limiting the uploading of one document to three image files (usually three pages). If a document requires more than 3 images, we ask that you create a Part 2 archived entry that contains all the same information as before, but stipulates that the upload is the 2nd part of a previously uploaded document. How large can the image file be? The image file should be in the JPEG format and should be no larger than 400k per image. We realize that in order to get the quality image required for actually reading the document being provided, a high resolution and therefore, a larger file size is necessary. Many times, on clearer documents, this can still be accomplished with an image that is 100k. The key is to make sure the document is readable.
Managing Your Account
To manage your account, simply register as a new user or login on the homepage. Your account will have the following options:
My Document: This is the area where documents that are purchased through the shopping cart feature will show for downloading. Change Password: Enter your old password and the password you want to change it to here. My Awards: Create and manage awards. To create, click on the Create Award link in the top right corner and fill out the fields describing your genealogical problem. Upload Documents: All documents that have been uploaded will be displayed here. Follow the instructions on the document provider page to upload your documents. As documents are uploaded, a summary will appear on this screen for you to edit or delete. My Transcriptions: A randomized selection of 20 documents that can be transcribed. Click on "List Transcribed Documents" to edit entries you have done. Purchase Information: This area shows the amount earned on your uploaded document. Logout: Click here to leave your account.
How do I change my payment information? If you have uploaded documents and need to change the address of where your checks are sent, please use our contact us form and we will make the necessary changes requested.
How can AncestryBank.com help me if I would like to upload my large collection? AncestryBank's vision is to make available every pre-1885 document that is currently in private hands. We understand the tast of archiving your collection is time consuming. If you have a large collection, please contact us using our form on the "Contact Us" page and we will work out a strategy to get all your documents listed by utilizing our resources as well as yours.
Awards What is the process for proof submission?
Once someone has submitted documented proof, the information is then sent to AncestryBank and the poster(s). If the submission is unclear, AncestryBank will contact the submitter to receive clarification or more visible documentation (a picture of a document). Once the proof has been verified, AncestryBank will collect payments from the poster(s). After payments are collected, one check will be sent to the person submitting proof. This process could take 2-3 weeks or faster depending on the type of payment the poster chooses. What are the fees for this service?
Searching postings and submitting proof are free. Adding to the award amount is free. Creating a post is free! We will use advertising revenues and document image sales to keep the award postings free. How will payment be made?
Award collection can be made as a check, money order, or paypal invoice. What should I include in my award?
A good award consists of detail. The award poster should try to document in the award all sources already used so that researchers do not cover steps already taken or submit "proof" that contains information already considered. The award poster should also try to be as specific as possible about what they are looking for. General statements with little detail in the facts and possibilities lead to a wide variety of proof submissions that technically could fall under definitive proof based off of a vague request. If someone submits information that doesn't fall under the category of proof, but would be helpful to others trying to solve the award, try to take a moment to edit the award to include this. Do you have any advice about solving awards?
We would advise people attempting to solve an award to contact the award poster by submitting additional information at the bottom of the award where it says "please click here." Some awards are better written than others, but it is always a time saver to get clarification from an award poster about what they are looking for or what they have already done before delving too deep into an award. What is the Add to Award feature about?
If someone other than the original poster has an interest in seeing the award solved and would like the information submitted, they may add to the award amount. The original poster owns the award posting and therefore would determine if the proof is sufficient in solving the objective, however, we will put the parties in touch to discuss this before an award amount is turned over to a visitor submitting proof. To remove your award addition, login to your account, click on the Add to Award and submit a negative amount for the amount you would like to reduce the addition by. How does adding additional information work?
If someone has factual information they would like to add to a post, they must simply click the "Submit Additional Information" link at the bottom of the post page. Email notification will be sent to the original poster that information has been added to their post, and they will be responsible for censoring the information in their account maintenance. Why did my "remove" feature for a specific post in account maintenance disappear?
If proof has been submitted and is being reviewed, the remove feature will be disabled. As noted in the Terms of Service, posting is an agreement to pay the award. This is to prevent someone from backing out after proof has been submitted. How do I cancel my post?
Simply go to your account maintenance and click on the "remove" link next to the award you would like to remove.
Please Support Access to Archives!
The A2A database is hosted by The National Archives on behalf of smaller repositories throughout England and Wales. The database allows you to search and browse catalogues from many archives in England and Wales, dating from the 900s to the present day. These archives are cared for in local record offices and libraries, universities, museums and national and specialist institutions, where they are made available to the public. Search the Access to Archives database at http://www.a2a.org.uk/ |
