---
name: reference-steward-notebooks-and-transcription-provenance
description: The steward's three paper notebooks, the red date-stamp, and the rule that transcription provenance cites the notebook rather than the photograph.
metadata:
  type: reference
---

The steward keeps **three paper notebooks**, and photographs pages for transcription
(established 2026-08-23, [[session-2026-08-23-the-doors-were-all-shut]]):

| notebook | format | contents |
|---|---|---|
| **Journal I, 2026** | B6-slim | the journal — most writing, least structure |
| daily **field book** | A6 | — |
| daily log of **"real life"** | A6 | — |

**Provenance cites the NOTEBOOK, never the photograph** — steward's rule, 2026-08-23.
The photo is transport, not record; the notebook is the archival object and he holds it.
So `source: Journal I, 2026 (B6-slim)`, not a filename. This dissolves the question of
whether journal photographs should be retained in an iCloud-synced vault: they need not be.

⚠ **Each notebook has its OWN archiving system**, of which "Journal I, 2026" is the journal's
form. **Ask for the citation form per notebook** when its first page arrives — do not
generalise the journal's scheme onto the two A6 books.

⚠ **Dates are always a RED RUBBER STAMP** — *"you should know that."* Machine-regular, red
ink, French month abbreviations (`26 JUIL. 2026`); anything alongside it (`· Graz`) is his
hand. A date-reading routine should key on the stamp, which is far more reliable than
handwriting.

**Filing rule (steward, 2026-08-23):** the entry is filed under **the date it records**, not
the date it entered the vault; arrival is metadata (`transcribed:`). One date may carry
entries from more than one notebook, so each transcription sits under **its own H2 naming the
notebook**.

Transcription quality on his hand: near-complete first attempt across English, French and
German proper nouns, plus musical shorthand. The failure class is **isolated tokens** — a
bare proper name, a bare numeral — which have no sentence context to correct them. Flag those
rather than smoothing them. See [[feedback-notes-are-part-of-the-work-keep-footnotes-endnotes]]
for the neighbouring discipline on fidelity.