Citing Misfiled Documents

28 April 2014

Historic records are frequently filed or bound in chronological sequence. Across the years, many have been misfiled or bound amid records of a different time frame—one in which a researcher would not normally look. When we discover a document in this situation, our citation should note the aberrant location. Usually the matter can be handled with a simple comment in square editorial brackets. For example:

“Rolle General des Trouppes de la Loüisianne, commencé en 1744” [filed 1771]; Colonies D2C 54; Archives d’Outre-Mer, Aix-en-Provence, France.

Extracted from EE 11.61 "France: Military & Emigration Rolls"