Dennis,
If your purpose is to publish with a historical society or some other
more formal outlet, then yes, stick with the Mills style of sourcing.
But if you just want to create a self-published family history for you
and yours, then the golden rule is to cite the source in a way that
helps your readers to find the original source you used.
So with this in mind, I keep my Master Source list fairly simple. Here
is a sample list of them:
1860 USA Census.
1865 MA State Census.
1890 USA Census - Veterans Schedules.
1900 USA Census.
1901 Census of Ireland.
Certificate/Record - Baptism.
Certificate/Record - Birth.
Certificate/Record - Death.
Certificate/Record - Divorce.
Certificate/Record - Marriage.
City Directory.
College - Bentley College.
Newspaper - The Daily News, McKeesport, PA.
Person - Susan Cullivan Daily.
For those type above, I do not fill in anything for author, title,
etc. Then I have some that are web sites, like:
Cemetery - St. Mary of the Bay - Warren RI
Under publication facts, I put the web site:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ussnei/StMaryBayWrn.htm
and actually in the Text of Source, I have copied the entire web page,
in case that page ever disappears.
or
WWI Draft Card
with this under Publication Facts: Ancestry.com [database online]
Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2002. World War I Selective Service System
Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. M1509, 4,277 rolls. Washington,
D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
I do have several books, and microfilm, and those I cite more carefully, i.e.
Vital Records - Wilmington Record of B/M/D [Source List Name]
Kelley, James E. [Author]
Wilmington Records of Births, Marriages and Deaths from 1730 to 1898. [Title]
Lowell, MA: Thompson & Hill, 1898.[Publication Facts]
So that is how I do my Master Sources. But then when it comes to
Source Details, this is where I get more specific.
For example, I have chosen this as a Master Source for a Name:
Certificate/Record - Baptism.
And then my Source Detail reads:
Wm Mulligan 1853; Parochial registers of Killasser Parish, 1847-1921;
microfilm #1279232 Item 17; accessed at LDS Family Center, Platte
City, MO
I keep a whole text file of how I wish to enter my Source Detail, so
that I can try to keep these standard, at least within my own reports.
I keep this file open as I enter data in Legacy. I've offered this
file to others at Legacy, and if you are interested, I can send you a
copy, too.
The list looks like this, for example:
__WWI_Draft_Cards:__
Leo Joseph Crowley 1883; 12 Sep 1918; Board: Lowell, Middlesex,
Massachusetts; Roll: 1674352; DraftBoard: 3; Ancestry.com (accessed 6
Oct 2005).
__WWII_Enlistments:__
Martin W Oneil Jr 1918; enlisted 20 Jan 1941; Providence, Rhode
Island; Ancestry.com (accessed 8 Mar 2006).
__SSDI:__
Mary Vitullo 1981 - Social Security Administration. Social Security
Death Index, Master File. Provo, Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc.
__Court_Records_-_Probate:__
John H Murphy Woburn 1916 Will Case No. 110030, accessed at
Middlesex Probate and Family Court, 208 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA
You can find how other people do sources, too, by looking in the
archives. But I just wanted to show you how you can do it so it is
simple, doesn't necessarily match the experts advice, but works for
you and keeps you sourcing!
Good luck!
Susan Daily
On 10/3/06, Dennis L. Bailey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I'm new both to genealogy and Legacy but not to historical
research. Therefore, I applaud the statements Geoff Rasmussen makes
about the importance of carefully citing sources in family-history
research. I'm frustrated in my attempts to use Legacy in doing
that. I understand that citing sources requires a conformity to a
recognized standard of style and a consistency in adhering to that
standard. However, I'm on the verge of giving up unless someone can
help. Here is one of the problems.
Legacy seems to use the citation template for a book and to require
that all kinds of sources be adapted, stuffed, or forced into that
single author-title-publication template. To enter a new source, I'm
finding it necessary to work constantly with both the style manual
(Mills) and the webpage "Tips" examples while entering data, and then
I find the task is made more difficult because the little
current-source window for entering detail data--which can be
substantial, for example, in an Ancestry census cite--does not allow
one to see but a portion of the entry without having to scan the
cursor back and forth. Already I've said too much, but maybe this
suggests the kinds of problems I'm having with citations.
Do other templates exist and I've not found them? Rather than
forcing all kinds of sources into a book template, it would seem
better to provide simple blank windows for citing primary, secondary,
and bibliography data in appropriate styles. And far better, to
provide a list of the various types of sources used in genealogy
research, followed by a descriptively labeled template appropriate to
each type. At least that is a method used for data entry by academic
research softwares like Library Master and Endnote, and it remarkably
improves accuracy and consistency in data entry. This is what I'm
having trouble gaining with Legacy.
Well, here goes--my frustration is sufficient that I'm finally
willing to get my education in public.
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