Do You "Just Trust" Citations Offered by Digital Providers?

25 June 2014 EE hopes your answer is "no." Today’s image demonstrates why. Not only do we need to double-check the factual details, but we also need to consider whether the “ready-made citation” actually covers all essentials. The census enumeration maps offered by one of our most-valued providers of digitized records suggests ...

Devise vs. Devolve

18 June 2014 Civil laws, across time, have created all sorts of legal words for the ways that property can change hands. Each term carries its own nuances, and clues often lurk within those shades of meaning. Knowing these, when we encounter them in a record, can shape the outcome of our research. ...

"Duplicate Originals" of the Federal Censuses

29 June 2014 It's a frustration we all know much too well in our census research. Whether we use an online provider of digital images or consult the old-timey microfilm, we find the needed county and state, search for our person of interest, and find nobody by that name. In fact, we find nobody with names—at least not given names. Page after page, there's nothing but initials—not just for heads of households, not just for grown males who may have preferred to be called I.J. rather than Ichabod Jehosophat, but for wives and children to boot. What's the problem? What's the fix? ...