These index cards were created to help government clerks locate completed Petitions for Naturalization. They are sorted by last name using Soundex, a pronunciation-based system which accounts for variations in the spelling of foreign names transliterated into English. For Hyman, there were two cards: one for Victor (Soundex V236); and one for his original surname, recorded inconsistently as either Chiry (Soundex C600, above) or Chirom.
Comments on This Exhibit
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Reuben
June 26th, 2007I love that this soundex algorithm, used in the twenties, has been implemented as a Perl script.
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Nicole
June 27th, 2007Soundex is AWESOME. It turns VICTOR into V-C-T-R, which is very recognizable. It doesn’t do quite as well on CHIRY, though, turning it into C-R. Dropping the H as a vowel is only useful in languages where H’s are silentish- the CH sound is so very Heebrewish though, that I think you need it here. N240 (N-C-L).