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Hitting a wall with faded handwriting in old census records

I'm trying to trace my ancestors through some 1900 census sheets, but the handwriting is really hard to read in some places. It seems like the clerk was rushing or the ink faded over the years. Does anyone have tips for figuring out those fuzzy names and dates? I've played with the contrast on digital copies, but it doesn't fix everything.
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3 Comments
mattheww57
mattheww571mo ago
Ugh, that's the worst. It's like everything from back then, photos and papers, just slowly turns into ghosts. Makes you wonder what else we've already lost for good.
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paulperry
paulperry28d ago
My grandpa's WW2 letters are just faint pencil marks now. Makes me wonder how much history is gone before we even notice it's fading. What's the oldest thing you've watched disappear like that?
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victor_stone
Wait, do you think it's always fading?
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