These are from verious sources:
When making a copy of any item that is likely to "bleed thru," use a red or black paper behind it. Newspapers, and any other paper that readily lets light thru is a candidate for that. I usually carry several and give them to places where I may be doing a lot of copying.
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When reading film or printed sources that are difficult to read, use colored films to cut the light. You may wish to purchase transparency film in several colors as certain types of film, papers, or inks respond differently. The type of light they were filmed with, ink and paper colors reflect back different light ranges, so play around with the films to see which allows you to read the print. I used to be able to get school report covers for this, but now they are much too opaque. Small squares of the film may also be used between microfilm reader lenses and the glass plates which protect the film. Otherwise with readers, one needs to tuck the film between the frame and the view glass on the vertical screens or lay film on the ones that project downward. If you can get only one color of film, choose the most translucent yellow you can find. I also leave these items in places I often frequent.
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When visiting a cemetery try to remember to take a 2'x2' square of cardboard covered with aluminum foil, a flashlight and a spray bottle of water. The foil paper and flashlight can help erase or form shadows for photography of stones. Wet stones show letters better, too. The final tool would be sand from the surrounding site. A bit dribbled into the carving on a horizontal stone or used to gently rub off lichens or dirt that obscures names and dates, works wonders. Never use anything else! Talcum powder, shoe polish, shaving cream and a host of other things people tell you to use, simply accelerate the decay process of the stones. Be sure to brush the sand off when you are done, for when wet, it too may harm a stone.
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On finding females: some areas of the world use English common law regarding name changes, so legal asction is not necessary in chosing the name by which one goes. Ie: British Isles, US and Canada. Franch, Spain, Quebec and Louisiana among others use a civil law system which requires a woman who wishes to change her name to go thru the same procedures as others who make name changes. Therefore when looking for a woman of French, Italian, or Dutch parentage, it is wise to look for her under her maiden name even if married at the time.
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Be careful with interpreting items based on normal spellings. For example a death certificate was reported as "died of new money disease." This turned out to be Pneumonia. A woman was listed as "Drew Ciller ..." -- Drucilla; another "Mack Scene . . ." -- Maxine.
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