FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Switzerland Locality Histories/Geographies

From FamilySearch Wiki



Purpose[edit | edit source]

We will be adding content to the Geography and History headings on some locality pages in Switzerland.
Example page: Betschwanden

Project Leader[edit | edit source]

Amber Larsen

Task List[edit | edit source]

Task List

Instructions[edit | edit source]

1. Open the Task List, and add your name to the Name column for the Locality you want to sign up for.


2. Go to the Wiki page for the Locality.

Part 1 - Wikipedia.org[edit | edit source]

3. In a separate window, open Wikipedia.org, and search for your locality.

  • Example: to search for Betschwanden, I would type "Betschwanden, Switzerland" into the Wikipedia search bar, and usually the matching page is the first one in the search results (or the one Wikipedia takes you to directly).


4. Read through the "History" and the "Geography" headings of the Wikipedia page. There are pieces of information in those sections that we will be extracting to put in our own FS Wiki locality page "History" and "Geography" headings.


5. After locating ONLY the following pieces of information, click edit source and add them under the Geography heading on our own FS Wiki locality page:

  • square mileage/km
  • elevation
  • nearby cities/landmarks
  • percentage agriculture/settlement, etc.




6. After locating ONLY the following pieces of information, click edit source and add them under the History heading on our own FS Wiki locality page:

  • when the locality was first created
  • the original name (or first mention/first recorded) of the locality
  • the population of the locality
  • up to 2 sentences of brief history pre-1870
  • construction/reconstruction dates of any churches
  • which parishes/municipalities the locality belonged to
  • any boundary or jurisdiction changes/adjustments (e.g. if a municipality merged or recombined with another, or was split)



  • NOTE: If any of the information you find was already listed on the FS Wiki locality page, don't duplicate it. Just leave what is already there, and add anything new.




7. With any of the information you find on the Wikipedia page, rephrase it, and add it to the respective heading on our own FS Wiki locality page (we rephrase the information so we don't directly copy word-for-word from another source, since that can be frowned upon). See the example below for some Wikipedia text, and a possible way to rephrase the text for addition to the FS Wiki.

  • Example:
Wikipedia Text Rephrased Text
Betschwanden is located in the valley of the Linth river, with the village situated on the east bank of the river, at an elevation of approximately 600 m (2,000 ft). Betschwanden is located on the east bank of the Linth river in the valley, at about 600 m (2,000 ft) elevation.




8. When you have extracted and rephrased any necessary pieces of information and added them to the "Geography" and "History" headings, we need to add a reference. See step 9.


9. Copy the following code, and paste it at the end of the paragraph you created in the "Geography" heading, AND at the end of the paragraph you created in the "History" heading:

<ref>Wikipedia contributors, "ARTICLETITLE," in ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia'', ARTICLEURL, accessed ACCESSDATE.</ref>




10. Replace everything in all CAPS with the respective information from Wikipedia. An example of the completed code for the Betschwanden locality is shown below:

<ref>Wikipedia contributors, "Betschwanden," in ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia'', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betschwanden, accessed 7 July 2022.</ref>




11. Add "Project adding History/Geography" to the Summary box, and Save the page.


12. On the Task List, add today's date under the "Wikipedia Completed" column.


13. If there are any pieces of information from steps 5-6 that you did not find, continue to Part 2.

  • If you added something from Wikipedia matching each of the pieces of information from steps 5-6, mark the "HDoS Completed" column as "N/A", and continue on to the next locality.

Part 2 - Historical Dictionary of Switzerland[edit | edit source]

14. In another window or tab (whatever your preference), open The Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, and in the left-hand search box, type in the name of your locality.


15. In the results of your search, you should see a box similar to the one shown below. Click on any of the "X"s under the D F I section (highlighted in yellow).


Historical Dictionary of Switzerland results list.PNG



16. This will open a pop up window of a local history for your locality in a different language.


17. Using Google Chrome, right-click anywhere on the page of this local history, and click "Translate to English".


18. Using the English translation of this history, repeat steps 5-7, adding any pieces information you did not find originally on Wikipedia. The English-translated text may be difficult to understand. Do your best to extract what you can. You don't have to perfectly capture every detail.

  • Note: Even after reading through this article, if there are pieces of information you still weren't able to find, it's ok. Don't worry. Just continue on.

19. When you have extracted and rephrased any necessary pieces of information and added them to the "Geography" and "History" headings, we need to add a reference. See step 20.


20. Copy the following code, and paste it at the end of the paragraph you created in the "Geography" heading, AND at the end of the paragraph you created in the "History" heading:

<ref>AUTHOR, "ARTICLETITLE," in ''Historical Encyclopedia of Switzerland (HLS)'', ARTICLEURL, accessed ACCESSDATE.</ref>




21. Scroll to the very bottom of the locality history from the Historical Directory and find the citation suggestion. Extract the pieces of information from the citation suggestion and insert them into the code from step 18. Replace everything in all CAPS with the respective information from the Historical Dictionary. An example of the completed code for the Betschwanden locality is shown below:

<ref>Karin Marti-Weissenbach, "Betschwanden," in ''Historical Encyclopedia of Switzerland (HLS)'', https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/000758/2020-11-19/, accessed 7 July 2022.</ref>




23. Add "Project adding History/Geography" to the Summary box, and Save the page.


24. On the Task List, add today's date under the "HDoS Completed" column.

Example Page[edit | edit source]

Retrieved from "https://integration-ru.familysearch.org/en/wiki/index.php?title=FamilySearch_Wiki:WikiProject_Switzerland_Locality_Histories/Geographies&oldid=4897853"