I finally couldn’t stand it any more. I purchased and downloaded Evidentia. I have so many documents that need to be assessed and I feel like I’m just hoarding until I can get the software. Now, I’ve got it and can start the real work.
Warning - the rest of this is about boring citations. Do you use citations in your genealogy record keeping? Do you analyze documents and compare for proofs?
Anyway - here’s the rest, connected to the pic here of the SS United States.
First effort: a New York passenger list from 1954 that shows my father coming back to the United States from France when he was 12. No problem, right? I create the source information in 'Document a Source'. I give it a name using my own naming convention (1954-11-09 Passenger List, New York). I copy and paste the source citation from the Ancestry.com page:
Year: 1954; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Microfilm Roll: Roll 8531; Line: 3; Page Number: 218
I even copy and paste the other source information into my Source Notes.
Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Original data:
Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897. Microfilm Publication M237, 675 rolls. NAI: 6256867. Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36. National Archives at Washington, D.C.
Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957. Microfilm Publication T715, 8892 rolls. NAI: 300346. Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; National Archives at Washington, D.C.
Supplemental Manifests of Alien Passengers and Crew Members Who Arrived on Vessels at New York, New York, Who Were Inspected for Admission, and Related Index, compiled 1887-1952. Microfilm Publication A3461, 21 rolls. NAI: 3887372. RG 85, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Index to Alien Crewmen Who Were Discharged or Who Deserted at New York, New York, May 1917-Nov. 1957. Microfilm Publication A3417. NAI: 4497925. National Archives at Washington, D.C.
Passenger Lists, 1962-1972, and Crew Lists, 1943-1972, of Vessels Arriving at Oswego, New York. Microfilm Publication A3426. NAI: 4441521. National Archives at Washington, D.C.
Although not all of the original sources apply to this record (applicable source is italicized), all are aggregated into Ancestry.com's database, defining its scope.
Now I'm on to 'Catalogue Claims', where I will analyze the document and pull out each of the assertions it makes. I need a Citation Title. In Evidentia, this is a field that will be pulled into reports. Or at least it was. Now in version 2 there is a second field called 'CitationTitle for Reports' which appears to be the real field that gets pulled into reports, whereas the Citation Title is...what? For my purposes, I'm going with the same name I used in Document a Source (1954-11-09 Passenger List, New York), but for the field that pulls to reports, I am adding ' - Davidson' to put the record into immediate context.
On to 'Citation Listing' which notes 'Listing for the source as it would appear in a footnote/endnote'. There is a separate field below for Citation Notes. Okay, I get what the notes are for (condition, legibility, reputation etc), but how do I record both the database from which I got the information, and the source information from which it came. Luckily Evidentia has templates to use to complete these citations. Unfortunately, they aren't terribly clear for the newbie. I finally settled on the Archives & Artifacts category and choose the template called 'Archived Material: Digital Archives, Collection (database) as lead element in the Source List'.
This is where I get stuck. The fields are Collection (New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957), Item Type or Format (database online), Website Creator/Owner (Ancestry.com), Website Title (Ancestry), URL (see below), Year(s) (1954), Date (access or retrieval date? 2016-02-05), Item Type or Format (Short) (database), Document Title (Jerry M Davidson in New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957), Page(s) (1), Credit Line (Source Of This Source) (I used an amalgamation of the source citation and the original source). Based on these, my citation looks like this:
New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, Ancestry.com, Ancestry (http://search.ancestry.com/search/collections/nypl/3039620938/printerÂfriendly?tid=74256255&pid=40509846293&usePUB=true&rhSource=1732 : 2016-02-05), database, "Jerry M Davidson in the New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," 1; Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, 1897-1957; Microfilm Publication (Serial) T715, Microfilm Roll: Roll 8531; Line 3; Page Number: 218. NAI: 300346. Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; National Archives at Washington, D.C.
I'm going to add 'Sourced from:' before Passenger and Crew Lists just so that I understand why that whole following segment is there. I suppose this gives me the information I would need to find it in the database again, and to find the original source.
I did some additional research on citations at Evidence Explained, trying to find something that would tell me how to cite this properly. Quick Lesson 4 there explains NARA (National Archives?) Citations and Finding Aids. I'll be honest though. My head was swimming so much from looking at Quick Lesson 1-3 that I only made it halfway through before I decided I had to post here first, and talk it out. I did find this resource, commonly called GIL 17. Download for free at http://www.archives.gov/publications/general-info-leaflets/17-citing-records.pdf.
