Bureau of Indian Affairs Citations

By thesleeplessge… on Fri, 02/17/2023 - 17:31

Forums

Hello,

I'm knee-deep in research with the BIA (RG 75).  Nara has index cards on their website, which give tidbits of information, and some cards reference other records. 

I know we don't typically use indexes as sources, but these index cards have a wealth of information on them.

If I use the index card, would I only cite the online card information, then when I get the actual file, then cite the details of where that file came from?

For example 

I have this as my citation - but it doesn't give me warm & fuzzy feelings. Being I didn't go to the actual container  (Container 193), would I only include that once I received the actual record? Would hat be all I would need to add?

Would it be best to include the image number in the citation, and shorten the URL?  

“1913: File Numbers 43700 thru 43799,” digital image, The National Archives, (https://catalog.archives.gov/id/202742625?objectPage=88 : 13 Feb 2023), "Georgianna Pequette, 43787, 31 Mar 1913," file unit: Numerical Index to the Central Classified Files, NAID: 202742625; citing Record Group: 75 Numerical Index to the Central Classified Files, 1913.


I currently have 25 of these index cards I need to go pull from NARA, so I want to get both citations correct. I will be using the index citation to point to the information I can glean from it, until the entire letter, file, etc is obtained.


Thanks for all you do!


Linda  aka "The Sleepless Genealogist"

Submitted byEEon Sat, 02/18/2023 - 10:09

Dear Sleepless Genealogist.

Do we cite indexes? Yes, indeed. We always cite what we use; and finding aids such as indexes are tools we all use.

The injunction not to cite indexes, which we hear everywhere, mistakenly confuses two separate issues: Identification of source and evaluation of evidence we draw from that source. 

We cite each source when we use it. Simultaneously, we evaluate the quality of that source. When we recognize that the source-at-hand is inferior and that something better exists, then the research note we take from that inferior source is only a place holder until we are able to access the better source. In the meanwhile—as you have recognized—we cannot make a valid assertion or decision on the basis of that source that we know is weak. 

All things considered, you should have “warm and fuzzy feelings” about your citation. You’ve evaluated a complicated site and done a good job of identifying essentials. EE’s tweaks would be in the interest of clarity:

“1913: File Numbers 43700 thru 43799,” digital image, United States, National Archives Catalog, (https://catalog.archives.gov/id/202742625?objectPage=88 : 13 Feb 2023), card 88, "Georgianna *Pequette, Ish-Qua-Ah-Che-Be-Quo-Quay,” no. 43787, 31 March 1913; citing NAID: 202742625, file unit: Numerical Index to the Central Classified Files, series: Numerical Index to the Central Classified Files, 1913;  Record Group 75: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Explanations:

  • The name of the website (which should be italicized because it is a standalone publication) is National Archives Catalog, rather than The National Archives.  Because many countries have an entity to which they give the name "National Archives" and the URL does not identify a specific nation, the citation should identify the creator of this website as the U.S. (Incidentally, internationally, the phrase “The National Archives” is associated with the national archives of the UK, a facility whose formal name is "The National Archives" and whose acronym is, thus, TNA. The "U.S. National Archives" does not identify itself as "The National Archives," and it uses NARA for “National Archives and Records Administration.”)
  • Because the URL leads to a file with 101 cards, EE would include the card number. It is placed before Georgianna’s name because it is the entity on which we find Georgianna’s name. To draw a comparison with a more-familiar equivalent: If we were citing a book that had lists of names on each page, we’d cite the page number before we say what name to look for on that page.
  • EE would not place quotation marks around “Georgianna Pequette, 43787, 31 Mar 1913” because that phrase is not an actual quotation of what’s there. Quotation marks are for use around words and phrases that we are copying exactly.  In this case, Georgianna’s name is rendered differently, the number is placed before her name rather than after, and the date is rendered differently.  When we paraphrase information (putting details in our own words or sequence) we do not use quotation marks around the whole. 
  • After we have identified the card, we are at the point of ending that layer of the citation and beginning the new “citing …” layer where we copy details from the framework of the website.
  • When we report the details that NARA cites, the standard order is from smallest to largest (see EE 11.1). In this case, using the details supplied on the framework of the image of interest, the smallest-to-largest-details would be file unit, series, record group. 
  • Note also that Record Group 75 is the RG for Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. “Numerical Index to the Central Classified Files, 1913” is a series within that record group.