Citing digital image of birth register from GSU microfilm on FamilySearch

Looking to cite an online birth register that appears that it was orginaly a GSU microfilm of an original marriage register. I'm scratching my head on citing this and wondering if I should cite the database or the catalog record.

When I did the initial search on FS it was part of a database "Pennsylvania Births and Christenings, 1709-1950" but the record came from a set of images from which I found this information:

Catalog Record: Pennsylvania Births and Christenings, 1709-1950
Film/Digital Note: Birth Register, 1893-1906

There is no citation for reference so I looked at the microfilm header:

Locality of Record:  Prothonotary, Wayne County Court House, Honesdale, PA
Microfilmed for Genealogical Society of Salt Lake City Utah
Filmed at Honesdale, PA
6 Feb. 1973
Title: Register of Births
Volume 1
Years 1893-1906

The title and volume is in line with the first scanned image of the original register book, but the date range was added. 

Since I see the catalog information seems to be more specific than the database and I can search from it I decided to use that, but I am finding this to be a particularly frustrating record to cite. This is what I have so far:

"Birth register, 1893-1906"; delayed birth records, 1870-1906", digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89KN-Y57?i=160 : accessed 7 March 2020) image 161 and 162, entry for Grant Sherwood, 12 July 1902, FHL Microfilm 007,621,703, roll, 2; Microfilm images the Wayne County, Pennsylvania, "Register of Births", vol. 1, unpaginated, for "Grant Sherwood," Prothonotary, Wayne County Court House, Honesdale, PA.

I'd appreciate any feedback to let me know if I am on the right track.

Thank you.

Submitted byEEon Sun, 03/08/2020 - 14:28

Eventide, yes, this “was originally a GSU microfilm of an original marriage register.”  You say:

 I'm scratching my head on citing this and wondering if I should cite the database or the catalog record.

Three basic points, here:

  • Always, we cite what we use. If we’re eyeballing an original register, we cite the original register.
  • FamilySearch has not created a named database for this filmed/imaged register. We cannot go to FS’s master catalog of named databases and find that title.
  • FamilySearch and the Family History Library specifically cautions users not to cite a record by the cataloging data. FHL cataloging data is often radically different from the title of the work we’re using. (See EE 2.27 for the explanation.)

In short: your citation cannot begin by citing a database. You need to begin by citing the original register. The FamilySearch website is only the means by which we are accessing that register. Your solution would be to reverse the two parts of your citation, with a bit of tweaking to refine.

 

You’ve provided a great opportunity for a teaching lesson, so I’m going to use it to walk our readers through a step-by-step process they can follow—first, to gather the needed data and, second, to assemble the citation.

In any citation to a courthouse records:

  • The basic rule is this:  Layer 1 of our citation cites the record. Layer 2 identifies the location where we accessed that record.
  • When we cite online images of those records: Layer 1 cites the record. Layer 2 identifies the provider and the media by which we accessed the record.

In many cases, an index entry or someone’s link will us take us directly to a FamilySearch page for a document of interest. We copy the document. But then we thumb back to the start of the register or file to get the identification that is not visible on the image itself. In this case, the cover of the register appears on image 5:

As we see from this, the original book is titled “Register of Births.” It’s volume 1 in that courthouse series. Its creator is a government entity in Wayne County [Pennsylvania]. From the cover, itself, we don’t know the identity of the county office that created the volume and houses it today. We learn this by thumbing back another couple of images to find the “target” that GSU made when it microfilmed the register.

 

This target tells us that the record is in the Prothronotary’s Office at Honesdale. It also also tells us that this one register spans the years 1893–1906. As we’ve already discovered, these dates are not actually on the register itself; but it would be helpful to note these dates in our citation. We would do that by placing the dates in square editorial brackets immediately after the volume number.

Following EE 9.30-9.1 (or p. 426’s QuickCheck model for a courthouse-held register of births) would generate a citation that looks like this when we use the original at the courthouse:

Wayne County, Pennsylvania, “Register of Births,” vol. 1 [1893–1906], unnumbered page, Section “S,” 1903 registration for Grant Sherwood born 12 July 1802; Office of the Prothronotary, Honesdale.

Note that  

  • The original volume has no page numbers. Therefore, to identify the page by its organizational scheme, we cite the section and the year, followed by the specific entry.
  • You cited “entry for Grant Sherwood, 12 July 1902.” The first column on the page cites an entry date but there is no 12 July 1902 date there. The entry date is 1903. I’ve added that, along with a notation that 12 July 1902 represents the birth.
  • This example uses color to differentiate between the two layers. The first layer, which ends at the semicolon, identifies the register. The second layer identifies the place where it can be accessed.

In this case, we are accessing the register online. Therefore, we alter the second layer to reflect the fact that we accessed it through a website.  The standard format for identifying the website provider would be this:

; imaged in “Database Title,” Website Title (URL : date accessed), image number.

But in this case, we don’t have a database to cite. This register is not part of a named database. We cannot go to FamilySearch’s catalog and search for this under a database title. Instead, FamilySearch gives us a digital film number: that can be used to locate that set of records through the catalog.

When citing a huge site such as FamilySearch, when we have no database title to cite, we cite the path that takes us from FamilySearch to the image. (Quicklesson 24 covers this under “Ark + Path Citations”):

; imaged at FamilySearch  (https://www.familysearch.or/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89KN-Y57?i=160 : accessed 8 March 2020) > digital film 007621703 > image 161.

Combining Layer 1 and Layer 2 would give us this:

Wayne County, Pennsylvania, “Register of Births,” vol. 1 [1893–1906], unnumbered page, Section “S,” 1903 registration for Grant Sherwood, born 12 July 1902; imaged at FamilySearch  (https://www.familysearch.or/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89KN-Y57?i=160 : accessed 8 March 2020) > digital film 007621703 > image 161.

Note that

  • the microfilm ID is not part of the citation to the original volume. If someone is in that courthouse office using the original, they are not using the film.  (And yes, many researchers do still go to the courthouse to use the originals because those courthouses still have many historic records that have not yet been filmed.)
  • The image numbers are not part of the citation to the original volume. Those image numbers work only if one is using FamilySearch. (In short, details that belong to one entity should not be mixed into the other.)

One last tweak to your draft citation, Eventide. You cite "image 161 and 162." I don't see relevant data on 162, so the draft I'm offering cites only 161.

Submitted byEventideon Sun, 03/08/2020 - 17:28

Thank you for that detailed explanation but I do have 2 questions related to your feedback.

1. You explained that since we saw the document online, that we need to alter the second layer of the citation to show that and it makes sense to me that we want to show that we viewed it on FamilySearch. But if we are referencing the original wouldn't we want Pennsylvania Births and Christenings, 1709-1950to also include found at the Office of the Prothronotary, Honesdale in case someone wanted to locate it?

2. I'm confused about it not being part of a database since it seems to be a part of Pennsylvania Births and Christenings, 1709-1950

 

Submitted byEventideon Sun, 03/08/2020 - 17:33

Sorry about the formatting of the previous comment - it posted before I was ready.

Thank you for that detailed explanation - it helps clarify many points.  But I do have 2 questions related to your feedback.

1. You explained that since we saw the document online, that we need to alter the second layer of the citation to show that and it makes sense to me that we want to show that we viewed it on FamilySearch. But if we are referencing the original wouldn't we want  to also include found at the Office of the Prothronotary, Honesdale in case someone wanted to locate it?

2. I'm confused about it not being part of a database since it seems to be a part of Pennsylvania Births and Christenings, 1709-1950. Its how I found it in the first place.

 

Pennsylvania Births and Christenings, 1709-1950

 

 

 

Submitted byEEon Sun, 03/08/2020 - 19:52

Eventide, in answer to your first question, the reason I did not include a citation to the location of the original is that we do not know, from what we see at FamilySearch, whether that register is still there. We know only that it was  there back in 1973 when the register was filmed.

Regarding your second point, I thought you were saying that when you originally found it, it was part of that database but that it was now accessible through a different means with different data. But thanks for flagging the point because it provides another lesson for us.

From the direct link in your citation, one that takes us to the microfilm and the exact image, there is no way to discern that this film is part of a database. As you note, there is no citation suggested in the flyouts at the bottom of the page. We're only given cataloging data and it does not mention the Pennsylvania database. There is also another visual clues that's missing: there is no path given at the top of a page (as with the example below) to clue us in that this is maintained as part of a larger database.

 

This is a point critical to all of us who use direct links that take us to exact images—and also the point of the "lesson" I built into your Q&A.  How do we take what we have and identify the essentials.  In cases such as this, the database title is not essential to the citation because it's not needed to find the record and it adds nothing to our understanding of the nature and quality of the record.

That said, the citation suggested in our earlier response, in path format, is easily adapted to include the name of the database:

Wayne County, Pennsylvania, “Register of Births,” vol. 1 [1893–1906], unnumbered page, Section “S,” 1903 registration for Grant Sherwood, born 12 July 1902; imaged in "Pennsylvania Births and Christenings, 1709–1950," database with images, FamilySearch  (https://www.familysearch.or/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89KN-Y57?i=160 : accessed 8 March 2020) > digital film 007621703 > image 161.