Citation Help - French Civil Records

I have been trying to figure out how to cite a French Civil Records (my description) website. The Genealogical Society of Utah microfilmed the records and is/was available to rent. They filmed the registers located in what is now the Basses-Atlantiques region; at the time (1615-1909) it was the Basses-Pyrénées region.

So I am looking at microfilm of a register/book on a website that used Church then Civil records. I'm stuck at which source do I use? I know this is not how the source is, it's my notes for now of where I got the information.

Archives Départementales des Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Registres paroissiaux et d'état civil, http://earchives.le64.fr/ead.html?id=FRAD064003_IR0002, Herrère, 1615-1889, Image 1126 of 1532.

http://earchives.le64.fr/img-viewer/FRAD064003_IR0002/HERRERE_1/5MI261-1/viewer.html?&ns=FRAD064012_5MI261_1_1126.jpg

I can figure out the citation part, but not the source. I also have trouble explaining what I need, obviously.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Submitted byEEon Fri, 08/11/2017 - 08:40

LKSearcy, I'm not sure I understand you when you say "I can figure out the citation part, but not the source." A citation is a sentence in which we identify our source. If we can't figure out our source, then we can't do the citation.

Let's approach the issue in other terms: since you are using these online, your citation has to identify two things: (1) the original record—for which all essential information is missing above; and (2) the website where you obtained the record.

Have you read these two sections of EE?

  • 7.39 in the church records chapter (specifically, France)
  • 9.49 in the chapter that covers b-m-d registrations (specifically, France)

7.39 offers three pages of discussion and examples that will help you understand the creation and maintenance of the church records that underpin France's état-civil (b-m-d registrations).  9.49 discusses and demonstrates the civil copy, which is what you are actually citing. The discussions should help you understand the records themselves and the examples cover a variety of formats in which we find them. Spcifically 9.49 provides the format for citing Layer 1, the original record.