Blogs

 
 
 

Research, Citations & Privacy Issues

1 March 2014
Citations that involve living people must respect privacy. In our privately-held working notes, we need to record ...

MIT & Free, Self-directed Education

28 February 2014
Researchers and writers never stop learning. The very research we do is richly educational. The act of writing also helps us better understand the material we have discovered. Even with degrees in appropriate fields, we benefit from continually exposing ourselves to new findings and concepts developed in related fields. ...

Using Record Copies

27 February 2014
Many of the "original" court records we consult at the city and county level are "record copies," rather than "true originals." Historically, attorneys presented the court with individual documents relevant to the case at hand. The court clerk then ...

Natural Children, Baseborn Wretches & Putative Fathers

26 February 2014
The term "natural child," in English and American law, has meant one born out of wedlock but acknowledged by the father. In civil law, which Louisiana has followed since its days as a colony of France and Spain, the term has been legally used to draw a contrast between

Tuesday's Test: Confusing Titles

25 February 2014
It just happened again. Amid reading entries in a writing competition, we were totally mystified as to what, exactly, was the title of several of the sources cited by an author. They weren’t even complicated documents that were parts of even more complicated archival collections

Citing Filmed Manuscripts from FHL

24 February 2014
Salt Lake City's Family History Library holds a rich trove of microfilmed records from around the world. Identifying that material clearly, in a way that will avoid confusion when it is needed again, can be a challenge. Each roll of film ...

“I-disease"

23 February 2014
We’ve all been cautioned against it—this great sin against good writing. “I ..., I ..., I ... .” So what’s the alternative? The one we most commonly see is another sin in the writer’s Bible: the passive voice . . .

Citing Photocopies

22 February 2014
When we receive a photocopy of a document or page from a record book—whether it’s from an official or unofficial source—our citation needs to . . .

“Non-standard” Sources for the American Revolutionary Era

21 February 2013
When we research a major episode in history, it’s easy to fall into the habit of using “standard sources” that are easily available. We’re especially guilty of this when doing biographical research during one or another war. We rely so heavily upon compiled service records, pensions, and bounty-land applications to provide us the basic information on our person-of-interest. If you're wishing for a trove of NON-standard documents ...

Facts, Truths, and Reality

20 February 2014
History researchers do not discover facts. We do not record facts. We do not prove facts. There is no way that we can determine the actual facts about past generations and centuries. ...

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