Are there multiple versions of the Barbour Collection?

The Barbour Collection is an index and abstract of pre-1850 Connecticut vital records created in the early 1900s. For a history of the collection, see the “LibGuide” on the Connecticut State Library website. It’s a commonly used resource for Connecticut research, and, as it’s considered to be generally reliable, is accepted as “proof” by many lineage societies.

If you’ve looked at the online versions of the Barbour Collection, you may have noticed that they don’t all look the same. The term “Barbour Collection” is actually applied to three collections:

1. The slip index: The first step in the collation process, the slip index is the most complete version of the collection, as it contains towns not included in the bound versions. (See the “LibGuide” for details.) The source of the record transcription is indicated directly on the card. The slip index has been digitized by FamilySearch as “Connecticut, Vital Records, Prior to 1850″.
2. Bound volumes: Bound volumes were prepared as the final step in the transcription and collation process. They are often tertiary transcriptions – the original transcription having been transcribed onto the slip index, which was alphabetized before being transcribed again – so transcription errors are likely. The source information for the volumes is at the front. The bound volumes are digitized but not searchable on FamilySearch. They are digitized and searchable on American Ancestors.
3. Lorraine Cook White publication: The bound volumes were transcribed again in the late 1990s and early 2000s and published under the editorship of Lorraine Cook White. These volumes do not include the source information and have been partially digitized by Ancestry.