Transcribe is the Nova Scotia Archives’ collaborative online workspace where the public can participate in enhancing access to our collections documenting over 300 years of Nova Scotia history, people, and culture. This is a great opportunity for participants to deeply experience our collections and index historical vital statistics.

Civil registration of marriages in Nova Scotia began in 1758, with the introduction of procedures for obtaining a marriage licence. The licence was optional, surviving records are incomplete, and 'calling the banns' remained the preferred procedure for formalizing the marriage ritual. Mandatory civil registration of marriages began in 1864 and has continued since, although compliance was not universal throughout the province until the early 20th century. This year we are working with marriage records from 1948.

Please enter the record as accurately and completely as you can. You are also welcome to index additional content from the record like father's and mother's names, address, occupation, etc. We welcome your feedback – contact us or join the discussion on Facebook.

Transcribing Tips

• Save your work frequently – every 15 minutes – if you don’t save before you navigate away from the page, your work will be lost!
• Read the record carefully, zoom-in to see more details
• Required fields are: groom's first and last name, bride's first and last name, date, place of marriage and county
• Give close attention to first and middle names as well as the place of marriage, city or town
• Enter a specific location that can be found on Google Maps
• Choose a county from the pull-down menu
• Additional fields (click the toogle buttons) may be filled in for both the groom and the bride as well as additional information about the license such as witnesses and location of ceremony
• Contact us or join the discussion on Facebook — ask fellow transcribers if you get stuck on a detail, find something interesting or have a tip to share with us.

FAQs

Q: Do I have to register?
A: No, registration is not required. You may use your name but it is not mandatory. If you enter your name you will be able to search for records you've been working on. Our system will not track you nor contact you. You can simply skip login but you won't easily be able to find the records you work on.

Q: I’m stuck! What do I do?
A: Invite the “crowd” to help you. Join the discussion on Facebook and help each other. Contact us and we’ll try to help too.

Q: What happens to finished records? 
A: Records, once complete, reviewed and approved, will be downloaded and added to our online collections at //archives.novascotia.ca/vital-statistics/ as full-text for searching and reading. This will enhance searching by names, dates and locations.