You can volunteer to transcribe records like these. I tried to do a bit BK (before kids), but haven't done any for years. The transcription software gives you a small subset--20 or 50 entries?--so you don't necessarily have a big sample size to compare similar letters and you aren't guaranteed to get the next block. There are a few samples for each letter in the help, but I found that was usually helpful only part of the time when I was trying to figure out a name or a word.?ÿ
I liked helping out Distributed Proofreaders more. They work on providing out-of-copyright works for Project Gutenberg. I don't know what the redundancies are for the LDS geneaology transcriptions, but DP has different people scanning and OCR, then multiple people check and correct the transcription and then format the text. You have to do some training before taking on any of the tasks, and then do so many pages before you can do more complicated tasks or harder works.
I tried to find my Grandparents in Boston in 1930. They are in a 1930 City Directory but not the Census. I'm pretty sure I found the right ED, it hits addresses on either side of them but not their address (a larger 3 unit building). The only guess I have is the building wasn't finished in early 1930. The handwriting is pretty bad, some street names are just a scrawl. I've seen a lot of old handwritten documents and this is just bad handwriting. They even went through the entire nearby Hospital for Incurables.
The term "inmates" was used to describe a wide assortment of residents in organized housing. ?ÿEverything from the early equivalent of assisted-living centers to the county poor farm. ?ÿSort of grabs your attention when your first thought involves potential doers of illegal deeds.
These were all "patients."