I went back and forth on my sources for a while and finally decided to
consolidate my master sources quite a bit. I currently have 604 master
sources and literally tens of thousands of citation details.
Many times I have the exact same master source combined with the exact same
citation detail and they are used in combination to document several facts
for a single person (or a single fact for several people). An example is
when every member of a particular household gets the same master source
(i.e. in my files: Georgia, Decatur County, 1860 census) and the same
citation detail (i.e. John Doe household, page x, Ancestry.com, etc.)
connected to each of their names and their birth dates. It's very redundant
to have these entered multiple times in the database and taking up space.
This is definitely a drawback to the way I handle sources now.
Other times, though, I have the same master source as used above (same
county and census year), but with a different citation detail (i.e. a
different household).
I do wish that I could somehow link one particular citation detail to one
master source and link it a single time to several different people/facts.
That would make my database more tidy I think. Yet it would still allow me
the benefits on master source consolidation.
Jim I do understand and agree that consoliding master sources doesn't make
it any easier to find the single piece of paper. For me, though, I like to
be able to click on a source and see how many people use it. I can click a
cemetery and see all the people buried there instead of having each person's
stone as its own source. This would make my master source list unwieldy.
For census sources, I start with the word "census" in the Source List Name
so that all census sources are clumped together in the database (as are all
cemetery sources, newspapers, vital records, etc). Then I consolidate the
census master sources by county within the census year. For example:
Census: Georgia, Decatur - 1860 U.S. census
Census: Georgia, Early - 1860 U.S. census
Census: North Carolina, Wilkes - 1860 U.S. census
Census: North Carolina, Wilkes - 1870 U.S. census
Therefore, the source name sort is first a geographic one within the source
type. Then, it sorts by year. I can quickly click on a source to see all
the people living in that county and state for that year. I never have any
problem locating a source this way.
I have all my sources and all my repositories posted on my web site if
anyone would like to see more examples: www.roots2buds.com.
Source formatting really all depends on how you need to use your source
information and how big your database is.
My thoughts...
Gail Rich Nestor
Smyrna, Georgia, USA
www.roots2buds.net
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Winfrey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 9:16 AM
Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Renaming sources
John,
I think this is an idea that hits us all when we get to the point
where we have a large number of sources. While creating Master
Sources and including differing data as details to that source, looks
like a good way to go, I personally think it makes your work harder
rather than simpler. A source is nothing more than a record that
supports a fact you have discovered for a person. Typically the
source boils down to a sheet or two of paper in your files with a
reference in your database. Regardless of what you do with
consolidation in the database, all the sheets of paper remain. The
way you have it now makes it simple to get to the paper. Once
consolidated, it will be more difficult to drill down to the sheet of
paper you are looking for. I tried consolidation at one point and
quickly decided against it.
On 5/25/06, john murray <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
hello Ron Ferguson and list
Thank you for letting me know that I am now on the list as I have not been
able to make contact for several months
I would like a little help please.
I have many sources such as
1861 census 10 Every street, Manchester, Lancashire, Smith Family
1861 Census 22 Brown street, Manchester, Lancashire, Jones Family
Etc
I have all the census set this way
As a result I now have hundreds of Sources
I would like to change them to such names as
Lancashire,Manchester- 1861 - UK Census (and leave out the family names
and
the street)
In this way I could shorten my Master Sources List quite dramatically
I would want to do this for all my Counties and just have the major towns
shown as above
Is there an easy way to change them
OR do I have to retype every entry of the Master Source
Hope this is clear enough of what I wish to do
Regards
John
Manchester
England
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