Netherlands online

Hello, cryptoref,

Thanks for giving the exact link. That helps.  As you suspected, EE would tinker with the citation a bit. First, I’ll offer a citation, then explain each tinker.

Groningen civil registry (Groningen, Netherlands), birth register (1816), folio 48, entry 917, Herman Levi de Vries registration, b. 29 November 1816, registered 17 December 1816; digital images, AlleGroningers (https://www.allegroningers.nl/zoeken-op-naam/deeds/bf10ebe2-0716-c08d-b30b-1b4b495b575d : 8 April 2020), images 489–90 of 516; citing archive number 1399, inventory number 6053, file number 917.

1. We’ve dropped the comma after "registry" and before the parentheses. In citations as in everyday writing, a comma does not appear before a parentheses. The purpose of a parentheses is to provide additional details about what comes before it. The purpose of a comma is to separate something from what came before it. If a comma splice, separates the parenthetical explanation from its antecedent, it negates the purpose of the parentheses.
2. The website tells us that our source (“Bron”) is “burgerlijke standregister” (civil register).  What you are citing is a register, not a certificate. (For an explanation of the difference, see EE 9.31, certificates vs. registration.) If another researcher attempts to locate this document after the URL goes bad, and is looking for a certificate, they will not find it. If we call it a certificate, they will search for a collection of loose papers.
3. Again, after the name of the child, the record type is changed to “registration,” rather than "certificate." The archives, in its document details just under the register number, states: “Soort registratie: geboorteakte”—telling us “Type of registration: birth certificate.”  A certificate was indeed registered, but the registration is not the certificate itself. If we had the certificate in hand, we’d cite the certificate according to however we obtained it. If we’re eyeballing the register (a derivative), then we cite the register.
4. The image itself tells us where in the register Herman’s entry is located: folio 48, entry 917. This is data we see in the image itself.
5. You cited the date 17 December 1816 but did not state what the date represented. In most citations, that date represents the date of birth for the person just named. Since this record gives us both a date of birth and a date of registration at the town hall, EE’s citation would include both and specify what each represents.
6. EE would move the phrase “image 489” to the second layer.  489 is not a page (or folio) found in the original register, which is what Layer 1 covers,  478 also is not part of the archival citation that goes in the source-of-the-source field, Layer 3.  That image number pertains only to the database. Therefore, we cite it in Layer 2, after the URL, as the path that one follows from the URL to get to the exact image itself.
7. The phrase “archive number 1399, inventory number 6053, file number 917,” needs to be pulled out of the first layer. That cataloging data is not in or on the document itself. We’re pulling that from the database entry that the archive gives us. When eyeballing the record, we cannot confirm that the data is correct. (Yes, even archives and their data entry clerks make errors.) Therefore, we add that data at the end, prefaced by the word citing, to indicate that this is how the archives identifies the source of its image, but we have not personally confirmed it.
8. Again, in your phrase “AlleGroningers (https: …” we’ve removed the comma before the parentheses. (We also straightened the opening parens which is obviously a typo  but I’ll mention it so that no reader will ask “Why did you change that?)  😊

Hello Cryptoref,

I'm a genealogist from the Netherlands. AlleGroningers is a website I often use for my research. This is how I would cite this record:

Civil Registration (Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands), birth register 1816 no. 917, Herman Levi de Vries (17 December 1816); consulted as AlleGroningers, database and images (https://www.allegroningers.nl/zoeken-op-naam/deeds/bf10ebe2-0716-c08d-b30b-1b4b495b575d : accessed 9 April 2020); citing call no. 6053, record group 1399, Groninger Archieven, Groningen, Netherlands. 

A few remarks to clarify my choices:

• This is an original record, not a derivative. Civil registration birth records in the Netherlands, started in 1811, are recorded in registers, not as certificates. Officially, the birth had to be recorded within five working days, but in the early days of the civil registration, this could sometimes be a little longer like in this case. The informant has to be the father, someone else who attended the birth, or the person who owned the house. The record was created when the informants and witnesses appeared before the registrar. The informant and two witnesses signed the record. If you view the record, you'll see the father's original signature. 
• The record was created by the civil registration department of the municipality, in this case the municipality of Groningen, in the same-named province. It's not a provincial registry, as your citation suggests, but a municipal one. 
• I cite the date the record is created, which helps to locate the record. I don't include the birth date or other information from the record in the citation but put that in my main text or facts that I attach the citation to. That's a matter of style, you can add the birth date if you think this is confusing. 
• I chose not to include image numbers since the database entry takes you straight to the correct image. The cited URL takes you straight to the correct database entry. 
• I mention that AlleGroningers is a database with images so the reader knows they can search for the information if the direct link is broken. 
• In the source-of-the-source information, there's no need to repeat the record number, which is already included in layer 1. 
• The website is a product of the Groninger Archieven, the archives of Groningen, as it says in the footer. The records on the website are all kept by the Groninger Archieven. When citing the source-of-the-source, I would include the Groninger Archieven since otherwise you don't know in which repository to look for record group 1399 and call no. 6053 within that repository. 

Hope this helps! 

Thanks, Yvette, for taking the time to share your first-hand knowledge of this archive, website, and record set!

I am so glad to have stumbled on this thread.  I am going back into my tree and tightening up my citations this winter.  I have a question though.  Most of my sources until about 1811 come from the birth, marriage and death books for the municipality in question.  Would this same formatting apply for the marriage and death books also?

So using the citation from the following along post as an example, I put together something like this.

Civil Registration (Schoondijke, Zeeland, Netherlands), marriage register 1940,  no 6, Marriage of David de Visser and Pieternella Cornelia Goedegebuure (11 July 1940); consulted at Zeeuws Archief, database and images (https://hdl.handle.net/21.12113/55E3BE497C4B48ECAD04AE6896507091 :  accessed 09 Jan 2024); citing call no. SDK-H-1940,  record group 25, Zeeland Archive, Middleburg, Netherlands.

I used the Perma-link URL which goes straight the record in question.  Looks weird though since it does not have the ZeeuwsArchief.nl until you get to the site.

Hoping that passes as an acceptable citation.  Thank you for help.