Citation Issues

Hello,

Although I've always prided myself on documenting my sources, your book introduced me to a whole new level of detail in citations. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and knowledge.

Even though your book has great and inspiring examples, I find myself struggling with citing transcribed records. I'm lucky enough to have ancestors from an area where a lot of genealogists have dedicated their time to transcribe or photograph records and provide free online access to their work.

ForceTrainer has raised an ever-timely issue.  Opening up an 885-page book can trigger an image of the old cliché: How does one eat an elephant?  The best way to take that proverbial "one bite at a time," where EE is concerned, would be this:

1. Read the first two chapters. Reread them. Learn them. These are the basic principles that apply to almost everything. Knowing these principles will serve you well through all your research and citation issues.

I've often wondered if I am citing images from Find A Grave correctly. Here is an example:

Findagrave.com, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 14 March 2011), entry for Claudia J. Esselstyn (1861 - 1862), Find A Grave Memorial #7,407,189, Aztalan Cemetery, Milford, Jefferson, Wisconsin. 

Link: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7407189

Questions:

I'm new to the world of genealogy research, and I found out about Evidence Explained through Family Tree Maker.  Since I wanted to do all of this right the first time I picked up a copy of Evidence Explained so my citations would be to a set standard.

One question I have is about the use of the word "stamped" when citing census records.  What exactly does this mean?  For example, on the 1880 census that I cite, the word "Page" is stamped, but the page number itself is handwritten.  Should I have "stamped" or "handwritten" after the page?

As I work my way through my piles of papers tracking down where they came from and creating citations I am in a quandary over this one. I have a copy of a "Common School Teachers' Term Report" I received the report from my mother, who copied it in the mid 1980's on a trip to Minnesota. I surmised that it came from the Stearns County History museum. This morning I phoned them to ask if these records came from them and what they were called for my citation. I was asked to send copies so they could look it up. I sent the copies and received the following for my citation:

As there are more than one loosely-termed "National Archives" in the world, what would the appropriate citation be where the Website Source has not specified which National Archives the record was found in, nor have they provided page or document #'s, etc?

The second edition of EE gives several examples for citing FamilySearch images, see pages, 53, 469, 500-01 and 598-99. It seems that FamilySearch has finally settled on the name FamilySearch. In the examples on 500-01 the phrase "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" was added before the title of the website. The example on p 598-99 omits the above phrase. I am curious as to the reasoning behind adding the "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints".

      I write to ask whether other users of EE think that section 2.56 should have a sentence to the effect that, if the listing in 2.56 does not include an abbreviation for a desired word, users should turn to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary.  (I got this suggestion from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed., sect. 15.1.)  Abbreviations from many fields are given alphabetically throughout WNCD.

I have had to sub-contract to a few researchers out of the country to obtain documents for me.  They have also provided citations for those documents the way they do it in their country.  My question is should I use their citations or try to convert those citations into EE format for my client reports?

Kelly

    I would like to see a hyphen separating section letter from page number in a newspaper citation which uses the shorter form.  Is this a unique quirk of mine or are there others who think that it may add clarity?  To use the example from EE’s sect. 14.22, I would recommend the following:

    longer form: Ken Ringle, “Up through Slavery,” The Washington Post, 12 May 2002, sect. F, pp. 1, 3.

    shorter form: Ken Ringle, “Up through Slavery,” The Washington Post, 12 May 2002, p. F-1, F-3.