The Carnegie Lectures

Carnegie Hall in 1895

Between November 1894 and December 1896, the New York Society for Ethical Culture held their Sunday meetings at Carnegie Hall, then still a fairly new building not far from Central Park.  The New York Times often reported on the content--and the large audiences--for the platform addresses presented in that venue.  We have two typewritten lists of  those addresses to consult and scanned versions of all but one of the addresses on those lists.  There are 57, all which will be entered in the Bibliography.  There is some hope that we can find a way to publish them so that they are accessible to more readers.  

Two problems confront us in the quest to publish these addresses.  (1) To publish the PDF files of the scanned typescripts on the web is simple enough, if we have a place to post them (not yet) and if we can create a PDF version that cannot be altered (not yet).  (2) To publish the PDF files in other formats is not so simple.  I have tried to convert the PDF files to MS Word, for example, using the conversion command available in my PDF software.  The result is gibberish.  The original document was in most cases a carbon copy of a typed script, likely made from a shorthand transcript of the oral address.  There are often penned or penciled corrections in the file.  The carbon sheet may be been reused multiple times, resulting in fainter and less clear type.  Some of the scans are basically whomper-jawed (see below).

Snip of "Nineteenth Anniversary Addresses"

Converting the files is necessary as a step toward having files that are more easily readable as well as more easily formatted and arranged for publishing using modern reproduction techniques.  

I have tried two other approaches to converting the files.  (1) I read the text aloud, using the Dictate command in MS Word.  This works well enough, since I have some long ago experience at a summer job as a proofreader at a Houston law firm.  In those days, word processors were a new thing and the size of a (large) mini-fridge.  To proofread a document, I would read the text aloud to another proofreader, who would scan the page for anything that did not match what I was reading.  What I read aloud was something like this:  

Open quote The Italic New York Times End Italic often reported the content M-dash and the large audiences M-dash for the platform addresses presented in that venue Period End Quote

I timed my reading and estimated that I could read 3 pages (with punctuation!) in 15 minutes.  There are almost 900 pages to be read.  (2)  I re-typed the text directly into Word.  I was less precise in my timing, but it took about the same time to type as to read aloud.  Again, there are almost 900 pages (now minus 12) to re-type.

Whatever approach we take, the goals for this set of documents are:

• Document the Carnegie Addresses in the Bibliography of Ethical Culture;
• Find a way to post the scans of the original typescripts for researchers and general readers;
• Find a way to convert the PDF files to formattable copy for easier reading and possible publication.