The pre-pro.com and auction databases are organized alphabetically using the conventions established by Barbara Edmonson in HSG and OASG. Not only is this presentation logical, it's also one that most collectors are already quite familiar with. Her conventions are reproduced below.
The databases can be used in two ways:
You can go directly to the Search Page and enter in a search term to identify all glasses from a city or state, for example, or you can identify the first two or three word on a shot glass of interest and then browse the relevant Index Page for a match. Clicking on the title of a glass will take you directly to a detailed listing with a photograph of the glass or a drawing of the label, if available. There are links within the listing pages that will allow you to scroll backwards and forwards through the database a single listing at a time until you find the glass of interest (or not).
CONVENTIONS:
Entries are arranged in order of the initial letter of the word that is printed on the glass: e.g.,
Absolutely pure rye...
Compliments of...
1849 (Eighteen forty nine)...
Estab. 1874...
Hand made....
Jack Tar...
The Old Maid Whiskey...
Trade Mark....
except for proper names, when entries are listed in order of the first letter of the family name, e.g.,
Lord Baltimore
Leo Bloom & Co.
Dr. C. Bouvier
I. W. Harper
Dan Patch
If the glass only contains a picture and no words, it will be listed under
"Picture of..."
When there's any doubt about how to index a glass, it will be listed twice or three times with alternate titles that describe the label in varying ways. The listings will all have the same unique shot glass ID# identifier; the alternate listings will increase the chance of a glass being found, even if it's out of the ordinary.
A good example of a glass that we're all familiar with and could be listed twice is one of the Detricks. On some glasses, the word "The" is spelled out in tiny transparent letters within the monogram at the upper left of the glass and this becomes the first word. However, since it's easy to miss, such glasses need to be indexed under both "D" and "The".
Another good example is any glass that has labels on both front and back. Since it's not always clear which is the front or back in such cases, these glasses will get listed twice with alternate first words. (examples include the G.A.R. glass that begins "Compliments of...." on one side and "Grand Army..." on the other, and the Davis and Drake glass that had "Every Time..." on the front and "Drink Maryland...." on the back.)