BEFORE SUBMITTING PHOTOS, PLEASE READ ABOUT
HOW TO TAKE TOMBSTONE PHOTOS

 Instructions for Submitting Tombstone Photos:

First, thank you for even thinking about helping in this project to help preserve our Tombstone heritage.  This can be a trying, tiring, but very rewarding endeavor.
 

1. Please only submit one clearly legible (The names and dates must be easily read and in focus.) photo of each tombstone. Three photos of the same tombstone is not necessary and takes up disk space unnecessarily.

2. Please do not submit a tombstone photo which gives the name and date of birth of a person who may still be living, unless you can obliterate that personal information from the photo. We do not want to publish any personal information on those living. If a birth date is given of 1898 it is fairly certain that person is deceased and a death date was just never added. However if a birth date is given of 1940 that person could very well be alive and we do not want to violate their privacy by publishing that date on the world wide web.

3. If submitting multiple photos from one cemetery, please be sure to type that cemetery name exactly the same each time you submit a photo as the file is stored based on that cemetery name and if you spell it differently, the photos from one cemetery could end up in two different directories.

4. Because image files can take up quite a bit of disk space, it is recommended that tombstone photos be as small as possible yet still can be clearly read. PLEASE READ ABOUT TAKING AND SIZING OF PHOTOS AT: HOW TO TAKE TOMBSTONE PHOTOS. If your photos do NOT fit the standards explained in How to Take Tombstone Photos, your photos may be rejected.

5. Check at: http://www.usgwtombstones.org/photo.html
to see how the Tombstone Project Manager for your state wants you to submit photos. If the Automated System is being used, see instructions below on how to use the system. Otherwise, follow the instructions laid out by the manager. There is a link for each state on how to submit. For most, the Automated System is the fastest way to submit your photos.

To add your photos to the USGenWeb Tombstone Photos Project please use the Automated System at:

http://www.genrecords.net/    or   http://www.genrecords.org/

Click on the State where you are submitting the photo for, then choose the Photos Link.
Fill in your email address, and your first name and last name as submitter.

Select Tombstone for Type of Photo

Fill in the first name, middle/maiden name and Last name in the appropriate fields. (If it is a double headstone you can fill in John & Jane in the first name field, and surname in the last name field) If for some reason there is no last name, in the case of broken headstones, then you must enter the word "unknown" as the last name and add in comments that last name was missing from the stone.

Fill in the date the photo was taken

Next fill in the cemetery name as source of photo.

Next click the browse button, in the select Photo file option, browse to the photo you are submitting, click on it and choose open. Be sure the file name location appears in that window.

In the next field enter details of headstone, names, dates and any other inscriptions. Please DO NOT make any additions or corrections to the actual information on the tombstone. You may know that Mollie Smith actually died in 1888, not 1889, as recorded on the tombstone, but don't make that change. Good genealogical practice is to record information as found. You can add that additional information in the Additional Comments field. If you have the location, (row/block/lot/plot/section) please add that here also.

If you wish to add more about the tombstone photo, the cemetery or the person, please add that in the next "Additional Comments field.

Next Choose the county, then click the submit button. Be patient, the larger the image size is, the more time it will take to upload. (Remember also that if the photo is over 150kb it may not be immediately available online. It will be sent to a file manager and perhaps resized before uploading.)

If you wish to then submit another photo, click the back button on your browser and change the information in the fields as necessary.

It is really easy once you have done it. I hope you enjoy your experience and find it very rewarding.
Thank you again for volunteering and happy hunting.

Offsite links:
Tips for taking good cemetery photos from About.com

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Copyright © The USGenWeb Tombstone Project, 1997-

Page Updated: Saturday, 16-Jul-2022 14:19:59 EDT