The ability to customize almost anything is one of The Master Genealogist's (TMG) most powerful features - and one of its most frustrating. The amazing detail in Evidence Explained makes it a treasure for genealogists - but makes it difficult to synthesize principles. Put the two together and you get chaos - or a wonderful way to cite your sources consistently and professionally.

The Tri-Valley TMG User Group is associated with the Livermore-Amador Genealogical Society (L-AGS), and we meet in Pleasanton, California. Information on our meetings - location, date, time, and topic - is always available on the home page of the L-AGS web site. Our three-hour meetings are actually hands-on workshops in which up to fifteen computers are connected to a digital projector allowing customized personal assistance to attendees. In the past, the group has systematically studied Lee Hoffman's Getting the Most out of The Master Genealogist and Terry Reigel's A Primer for The Master Genealogist. In February 2010 we embarked on our most ambitious project to date, a study of Elizabeth Shown Mills' Evidence Explained.

If you would like to participate in the Tri-Valley TMG User Group's adventures as we attempt to create TMG source templates that approximate Evidence Explained's principles, please feel free to comment and share your ideas.

If you would like to download and use our source type templates in your personal database, we would appreciate it if you retain our acronym (TVTMG) in the template name. Societies, if you would like to use these templates in your group activities, please contact the TV-TMG chair at: tvtmg.chair@L-AGS.org.

Please note that these are our attempts
and they have not been approved by Mills! In other words, please don't blame her incredible book for our mistakes. Unless otherwise stated, all references are to the 2007 edition of Evidence Explained.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Citing FHL Microfilm: Church Register

Church Register microfilmed by the FHL (This citation is discussed in Mills, EE, sections 7.21-7.22 and illustrated in QuickCheck Model, p. 315.)
  • Bibliography (Source List Entry):
<[CHURCH]>< ([LOCATION]). ><[SERIES]. ><[PUBLISHER]><, [PUBLISHER LOCATION]. > FHL microfilm< [FILM RANGE]><, [ROLL] rolls>.  Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah<.  [MEMO]>.

Farmington Monthly Meeting, Hicksite (Farmington, New York). Monthly meeting records, 1828-1877. Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.  FHL microfilm 17263-17264.  Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.  Details on these volumes may be found in the finding aid, "Records of New York and Genesee Yearly Meetings of the Religious Society of Friends," located at: http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/friends/NYYM/farmipm.xml.  The original volumes were transferred from the Haviland Records Room to the Friends Historical Library in 1997.
  • Full footnote (First Reference Note):
<[CHURCH]>< ([LOCATION]), ><"[TITLE]," ><[CD2], ><[CD1]>; FHL microfilm< [FILM NUMBER]><, item [ITEM NUMBER]><; [CM]>.
 
Farmington Monthly Meeting, Hicksite (Farmington, New York), "Men's monthly meetings, 1828 - 1877," p. 105, Bryce Aldrich death; FHL microfilm 17,263, item 2-3<; [CM]>.
  • Short footnote (Subsequent Note):
<[CHURCH]>< ([SHORT LOCATION])><, "[TITLE]," ><[CD2]><; [CM]>.

Farmington Monthly Meeting, Hicksite (Farmington, N.Y.), "Men's monthly meetings, 1828 - 1877," p. 105<; [CM]>.

Explanation of variations from Mills:
  1. It's unfortunate that almost every church register I have in my personal database is a register created by the Society of Friends, and most of those originals are now held at the Friends Historical Library in Swarthmore.  My example, therefore, does not exactly match Mills for these specific records.  Because of the possibility that FHL could refer to both the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and the Friends Historical Library in Swarthmore, the acronym should be written out when citing these records.  For most church registers, this template is not a problem.
  2. The second problem with this template is the fact that the Title is set off by quotation marks.  This is correct if the title is the exact title found on the specific volume used.  If the volume cover or spine was filmed by the photographer, there are no problems.  If you can't ascertain the actual title of the volume used, Mills gives options, but none of those options should be put in quotation marks.
  3. Although technically the publisher of a Family History Library microfilm is the GSU/FHL itself, what the Publisher and Publisher Location fields refer to in this template is the location of the original records.  This may be the original church office, if the original records are still there, or the archived location of the original records.  Ascertaining the current location of the original records may not be as easy as it sounds.  Details found on the microfilm and the FHL catalog were current when the records were photographed.  In this example, that date was 1950.  The records were moved in 1997.
  4. Ideally, the Short Footnote in this example should appear as "Farmington (N.Y.) Monthly Meeting, Hicksite."  For an optional template that avoids this problem, see my Comment to this post.
  5. Ideally, the Short Footnote should contain a Short Title option.  Our element, Short Location, was created as one of the elements in the Short Title group, so we simply repeated the Title element.  For an optional template that avoids this problem, see my Comment to this post.
TMG notes:
  1. Although the Repository information is not part of this template's output, it's a good idea to enter the information anyway.
  2. Note the fact that the Church in this example appears as "Farmington Monthly Meeting, Hicksite."  The Church source element is part of the Author group, and the comma in this group normally separates surname and given names.  Use TMG's escape character, the backslash, to avoid this appearing as "Hicksite Farmington Monthly Meeting" in the footnote.  Enter it as "Farmington Monthly Meeting\, Hicksite" in the Church field - without the quotes, of course.
  3. The Short Location source element was created for an earlier template in the Short Title group, so a shortened version of the Title is not found in this template. If the Short Location element is created in another group, this problem can be avoided. 
New source elements in this template:
  1. Church (in Author)
  2. Film Range (in Second Date)
  3. Item Number (in Record Number)
  4. All other custom elements created in earlier templates

Friday, November 5, 2010

Citing a Website "Chapter"

Website as "Chapter" (This template uses Mills, EE, QuickCheck Models , pp. 647 and 657.  QCM 657 equates a website devoted to one item with a book.  If we expand on that analogy, a website, like those county websites sponsored by RootsWeb, are similar to chapters within a book and can be cited in the form seen in QCM 647.)
  • Bibliography (Source List Entry):
<[AUTHOR]. ><"[CHAPTER TITLE]." ><[FCAP:][RECORD TYPE][:FCAP]. ><[SECOND AUTHOR]><, [AUTHOR ROLE]><. [ITAL:][WEBSITE][:ITAL]. ><[URL]>< : [YEAR POSTED].>< [COMMENTS].>

Tazewell County researchers. "Compiled Tazewell County Marriage Index." Record Abstracts. Bradford, Lisa Griffith, County Coordinator. Welcome to Tazewell County, Virginia (Virginia USGenWeb). http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vatazewe/TCMI/TCMI.htm : 2003.
  • Full footnote (First Reference Note):
<[AUTHOR], ><"[CHAPTER TITLE]," ><[RECORD TYPE], ><[SECOND AUTHOR], ><[AUTHOR ROLE], ><[ITAL:][WEBSITE][:ITAL] >(<[URL]>< : accessed [CD3]>)<, [CD1]><, [CD2]><; [CM]>.
 
Tazewell County researchers, "Compiled Tazewell County Marriage Index," record abstracts, Lisa Griffith Bradford, County Coordinator, Welcome to Tazewell County, Virginia (Virginia USGenWeb) (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vatazewe/TCMI/TCMI.htm : accessed 15 July 2010), Denison Baldwin - Sallie Ward Barns marriage, 16 February 1858<; [CM]>.
  • Short footnote (Subsequent Note):
<[AUTHOR], ><"[SHORT CHAPTER TITLE]," ><[ITAL:][SHORT WEBSITE][:ITAL], ><[CD1]><; [CM]>.

Tazewell County researchers, "Compiled Tazewell County Marriage Index," Tazewell County, Virginia (VA USGenWeb), Denison Baldwin - Sallie Ward Barns marriage<; [CM]>.

Explanation of variations from Mills:
  1. There's no exact comparison available, but there are some possible questions.  The QCM on p. 647 places the example's book editor after the title of the book.  The example in 12.64, however, places the book editor's name before the title.  I'm not sure which would be preferred, but our template feels a little better to me, as it retains the pattern of creator before the name of the creation.
  2. The URL entered in the template is that of the "chapter," not that of the "book," although it follows the title of the website, not the title of the chapter.  Since not every website makes it easy to find the sections, I think it's a good idea to cite the chapter URL. 
TMG notes:
  1. Note the use of the formatting code, [FCAP:][:FCAP] in the Bibliography.  This capitalizes the initial letter of each word.  That's not really what we want, but it's better than leaving this data in lower case.  If the Bibliography is published, capitalization of the data in this field will need to be edited.
  2. Many websites have corporate authors of some sort..  Entering an author as "Film Study Center, Harvard University" would result in incorrect output in both footnote outputs.  Don't forget TMG's escape character, the backslash.  Enter this as "Film Study Center\, Harvard University" and it will print correctly in all output formats.
New source elements in this template:
  1. Website (in Title)
  2. Short Website (in Short Title)

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Citing an Online Book (Previously Published)

Basic Book Online (previously published) (This template uses Mills, EE, QuickCheck Model , p. 661, but it includes the full original publication information; also see 12.79 and 12.82.  This template works for digital images and seems to work for online editions.  Don't use this for databases extracted from books.)
  • Bibliography (Source List Entry):
<[AUTHOR]><, [AUTHOR ROLE]><. [ITAL:][TITLE][:ITAL].> [PUBLISHER ADDRESS]: [PUBLISHER]<, [PUBLISH DATE]><. [FCAP:][RECORD TYPE][:FCAP]><. [SECOND AUTHOR]><. [ITAL:][WEBSITE TITLE][:ITAL]><. [URL]>< : [YEAR POSTED]>.

Burleigh, Charles. The Genealogy and History of the Guild, Guile and Gile Family. Portland, Maine: Brown, Thurston & Company, 1887. Digital images. Google Book Search. http://books.google.com/ : 2007.
  • Full footnote (First Reference Note):
<[AUTHOR], ><[AUTHOR ROLE], ><[ITAL:][TITLE][:ITAL]> ([PUBLISHER ADDRESS]: [PUBLISHER], [PUBLISH DATE])<, [CD1]>; <[RECORD TYPE], ><[SECOND AUTHOR], ><[ITAL:][WEBSITE TITLE][:ITAL]> ([URL]< : accessed [CD3]>)<; [CM]>.
 
Charles Burleigh, The Genealogy and History of the Guild, Guile and Gile Family (Portland, Maine: Brown, Thurston & Company, 1887), 125; digital images, Google Book Search (http://books.google.com/ : accessed 23 August 2008)<; [CM]>.
  • Short footnote (Subsequent Note):
<[AUTHOR], ><[ITAL:][SHORT TITLE][:ITAL]><, [CD1]><; [CM]>.

Burleigh, The Genealogy and History of the Guild, Guile and Gile Family, 125<; [CM]>.

Explanation of variations from Mills:
  1. This matches the QuickCheck Model for online digital images of previously published books.  It should work for online editions, also.
TMG notes:
  1. Note the use of the formatting code, [FCAP:][:FCAP] in the Bibliography.  This capitalizes the initial letter of each word.  That's not really what we want, but it's better than leaving this data in lower case.  If the Bibliography is published, capitalization of the data in this field will need to be edited.
New source elements in this template:
  1. Second Author (in Second Person)
  2. Year Posted (in Second Date)

Basic Book Template

Basic Book Template (This template matches Mills, EE, 12.3, and QuickCheck Model , p. 646.)
  • Bibliography (Source List Entry):
<[AUTHOR]><, [AUTHOR ROLE]><. [ITAL:][TITLE][:ITAL].> [PUBLISHER ADDRESS]: [PUBLISHER]<, [PUBLISH DATE]>.

Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812. New York: Vintage Books, 1991.
  • Full footnote (First Reference Note):
<[AUTHOR], ><[AUTHOR ROLE], ><[ITAL:][TITLE][:ITAL]> ([PUBLISHER ADDRESS]: [PUBLISHER], [PUBLISH DATE])<, [CD1]>.
 
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 (New York: Vintage Books, 1991), 256.
  • Short footnote (Subsequent Note):
<[AUTHOR], ><[ITAL:][SHORT TITLE][:ITAL]><, [CD1]>.

Ulrich, A Midwife's Tale, 256.

Explanation of variations from Mills:

  1. There are no apparent variations.
TMG notes:
  1. Don't forget to enter author's name in the form "Surname, Given".  Multiple authors are separated by semicolons. 
  2. [CD1] could be specified simply as [CD], since additional splits have not been defined.
  3. [AUTHOR ROLE], if present, is entered in lower case.
New source elements in this template:
  1. Author Role (in Editor)

Citing Online Death Certificates (State-level Images)

Online Death Certificates (State-issued) (This template is based on Mills, EE, 9.33.)  This template emphasizes the certificate image, not the database.  Note that this can be used for state-issued birth certificates, as well.  Marriage certificates require an extra citation detail field. Don't use this template for images from sites like Ancestry or FamilySearch.  They require a different template for the Bibliography.

  • Bibliography (Source List Entry):
<[JURISDICTION]. ><[AGENCY]. ><"[DATABASE]." ><[RECORD TYPE]. ><[ITAL:][WEBSITE TITLE][:ITAL]. ><[URL]>< : [YEAR].>

West Virginia. State Department of Health. "Search Death Records." Database and images. West Virginia Division of Culture and History. http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_dcsearch.aspx : 2010.
  • Full footnote (First Reference Note):
<[JURISDICTION] ><[AGENCY], ><[SERIES]>< no. [CD2] ><([CD3])><, [CD1]>; digital image, <"[DATABASE]," ><[ITAL:][WEBSITE TITLE][:ITAL]> (<[URL]>< : accessed [CREF]>)<; [MEMO1]><; [CM]>.

West Virginia State Department of Health, death certificate no. 7184 (1946), Robert Moore Baldwin; digital image, "Search Death Records," West Virginia Division of Culture and History (http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_dcsearch.aspx : accessed 8 May 2010)<; [CM]>.
  • Short footnote (Subsequent Note):
<[JURISDICTION] ><[SERIES]>< no. [CD2] ><([CD3])><, [CD1]><; [CM]>.

West Virginia death certificate no. 7184 (1946), Robert Moore Baldwin<; [CM]>.

Explanation of variations from Mills:
  1. Since there's no exact comparison, it's hard to say there are variations.
TMG notes:
  1. [MEMO1] is used for the credit line - the source of the source.  That's not necessary here, because the database creator is the government body.
  2. [WEBSITE TITLE] was created to allow the [DATABASE] field to appear in the [TITLE].  Given the fact that one website might have many databases, this is a more logical use for the [TITLE] field in this template. (In a given template, you can only have one source element from any source element group.)
  3. One cautionary point about using [CREF] for the access date: It doesn't repeat when you repeat the source citation - a distinct disadvantage.
New source elements in this template:
  1. Database (in Title)
  2. Website Title (in Subtitle)

Monday, November 1, 2010

Citing State-level Death Certificates

Death Certificates (State-issued) (This template replicates Mills, EE, QuickCheck model, p. 430, and 9.41.)  Note that this can be used for state-issued birth certificates, as well.  Marriage certificates require an extra citation detail field.
  • Bibliography (Source List Entry):
<[JURISDICTION]. ><[AGENCY]. ><[RECORD TYPE]. ><[REPOSITORY]><, [REPOSITORY LOCATION]>.

West Virginia. State Department of Health. Death Certificates. Division of Vital Statistics, Charleston.
  • Full footnote (First Reference Note):
<[JURISDICTION] ><[AGENCY], ><[SERIES]>< no. [CD2] ><([CD3])><, [CD1]><; [REPOSITORY],>< [REPOSITORY LOCATION]><; [CM]>.

West Virginia State Department of Health, death certificate no. 7184 (1946), Robert Moore Baldwin; Division of Vital Statistics, Charleston<; [CM]>.
  • Short footnote (Subsequent Note):
<[JURISDICTION] ><[SERIES]>< no. [CD2] ><([CD3])><, [CD1]><; [CM]>.

West Virginia death certificate no. 7184 (1946), Robert Moore Baldwin<; [CM]>.

Explanation of variations from Mills:
  1. Ta-daa!!  I don't see any.
TMG notes:
  1. If TMG let us specify an individual field in the Repository Address, we wouldn't need to create a separate source element for a repository location that required only a city because the state was already named elsewhere in the citation.
  2. [RECORD TYPE] and [SERIES] specify essentially the same information, but the required capitalization and number differ in the output.  Capitalization might be handled using the [CAP:] formatting, but this is just as easy and allows for those instances when the state's name for the series differs from a simple "death certificate."
New source elements in this template:
  1. Repository Location (in Publisher Location).