Talk:Mary Katharine Goddard

Lack of clarity about businesses
An earlier editor posted the following unreferenced information as a reference, which didn't make sense:
 * Mary Katherine Goddard was 24 years old in 1762 when she took an interest in her brother William's business, the Providence Gazette and Country Journal. She next partnered with her mother to start a business they named the Gazette. The Gazette printed almanacs, pamphlets, and books.

If true, this should be integrated into the article. Netmouse (talk) 22:23, 9 May 2011 (UTC)

Katharine vs Katherine
Generally speaking, we go with what the preponderance of sources say, and based on the references, I see more spelling it with an "e" than an "a".

However, if you look at the image in this source, it is clearly spelled with an "a".

Given the alternative spellings, and the possible fact that Katherine with an "e" is more common today, I think many of the sources are simply mistaken and think we ought to override our usual rules given the original document.

Does anyone think we ought to go with the incorrect spelling based on the preponderance of sources rule?-- S Philbrick (Talk)  16:50, 6 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Addendum. It occurs to me that the spelling on the declaration of independence could itself be a mistake, which would be awkward. I haven't read all of the references so don't know whether it has been discussed. I'm also far short of an expert on spelling in that era but I've read few things that suggest that alternative spellings when phonetically identical are common, so perhaps it is possible she herself spelled it both ways at different times. The OED notes: In ordinary handwritten documents, however, even those of well-educated people, spelling continued to vary noticeably until well into the eighteenth century.


 * As a complication, this letter to George Washington from Mary Katherine Goddard is spelled with an "e". But clearly not the original document but unless somebody mis-transcribed it it means that, at least sometimes, she spelled her middle name Katherine.-- S Philbrick (Talk)  17:03, 6 July 2017 (UTC)

Portrait
An article by Christopher Young in the Maryland Historical Magazine, "'That Eye Is Now Dim and Closed For Ever': The Purported Image of Mary K. Goddard," determines that the portrait of Goddard included on this page is actually a portrait of Ann Brunton. The portrait should be removed, and a note could be added to help dissuade the assumption that this is a portrait of Goddard. Emily Sneff (talk) 17:09, 3 November 2018 (UTC)

Converting to citation templates & adding additional parameters
As per Citing_sources, I plan to change plain text citations to templates to achieve one style on an article with inconsistent citation styles & improve existing citations by adding missing information. Peaceray (talk) 17:52, 2 February 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Graphic Design History
— Assignment last updated by Ktrachsel01 (talk) 01:07, 18 December 2023 (UTC)