FamilyLore

Ask FamilyLore a question about one page in the person's account: what a phrase meant then, who someone was, what the letter says about something. The answer comes with the letter's lines it rests on, or says that the letter doesn't say. Use it with a page id from read_letter, my_letters or get_reading, once the page has been read. Questions the reading already answers (who is named, what the translation says) need no call.

The reading of a page in the person's FamilyLore account: the transcription in its own script with the words FamilyLore was unsure of marked, the translation, notes on what it meant, how sure the reading is, and the page's link. Use it with the page id read_letter answered, to show the reading once it is done or to see whether it is still being read.

How many pages the person's FamilyLore account has left to read: today for a free account, this month otherwise, and when more come. Reading a page in the chat uses the same allowance as on the site.

The pages in the person's FamilyLore account, newest first: each letter's title, language, the date it was added, whether it has been read, and its page id. Use it when the person asks about letters they have read on FamilyLore; pass a page id to get_reading for that letter's reading.

Read a photo of an old handwritten letter, postcard or document with FamilyLore: the transcription in its own script, a translation and notes on what it meant then. Use it when the person attaches a photo of a handwritten page and asks what it says. It reads pre-1918 Russian and Ukrainian cursive, German Kurrent and Sütterlin, Yiddish, and old English cursive. It also reads Chinese family genealogies (jiapu, zupu) in a regular, print-like hand; for those, leave the language out. It needs the person's FamilyLore account and uses one page of the account's allowance. It starts the reading and answers at once with the page id; a reading takes about a minute and a half. If the photo can't be attached here, call it without one: it answers with a one-time link where the person sends the photo to FamilyLore, and the page id to pass to get_reading once they have.

Where a page's reading is, for FamilyLore's card while the page is read.

FamilyLore's shelf of 16 real handwritten letters from 1758 to 1943, each with FamilyLore's reading: the transcription in the original script, an English translation, and notes on what the letter meant at the time. Use this when someone wants to see a real historical letter: one written in a given script (such as Kurrent, Sütterlin or old Russian cursive), in a given language, from a period or near a year, or the full reading of one of these letters. Without a letter id it lists the matching letters; with one it returns that letter's reading. Do not use it to read a letter or photo the person has: these are fixed example letters only.

FamilyLore's guide to the 137 letters of five old handwriting styles: Russian cursive, German Kurrent, Sütterlin, Hebrew cursive, American cursive. For one letter: how it was written (its forms, with images), what to look for, the letters it is mistaken for and how to tell them apart, and printed copybook plates where FamilyLore has them. Use this when someone asks how a letter was written in one of these hands, what an old letter shape is, or why two letters look alike; give the letter as written ("ѣ", "G"), by its name ("yat") or as transliterated, and the hand if known. With only a hand it returns that hand's alphabet. Do not use it to read a letter or photo the person has: it explains the alphabets only.

A one-time link where the person sends FamilyLore the photo of a page, for FamilyLore's card.