Layered citation for Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records on American Ancestors

I am new to creating source citations.  I'm using RootsMagic 7's Master Sources and Source Details templates.  

I  will have many citations from NEHGS's Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records database with images on American Ancestors.  Before I move forward with citing the many records I will eventually find in this database I would like to know if I am on the right track with the citations below I have created for my grandfather's record.

The record URL is:

https://www.americanancestors.org/databases/massachusetts-roman-catholic-archdiocese-of-boston-records-1789-1920/image?volumeId=56954&pageName=654&rId=1426334465  

The record is in Latin.  The names in the database are in Latin, English in this manner:

 Jacobum, James BRADLEY

Do I use the Latin name, or English name or both in the citations and how is that entered: 

Jacobum (James) Bradley or Jacobum, James Bradley or ???

The citation on American Ancestors below the image is:

Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2019 (From records supplied by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston).

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB2726/i/56954/654/1426334465

I would appreciate any review and comments for the citations below.

Footnote:
"Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920," database with images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (https://www.americanancestors.org/ : downloaded 14 November 2019), James Bradley, baptized 8 May 1892; citing St. Francis de Sales (Charlestown) Baptisms, 1880-1893, page 654 of 715 [Archive, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston].

Short Footnote:
"Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920," database with images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, James Bradley, baptized 8 May 1892.

Bibliography:
"Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920." Database with images. New England Historic Genealogical Society. American Ancestors. https://www.americanancestors.org/ : 2019.

Thank you,

Sue McCann

Submitted byEEon Thu, 12/05/2019 - 22:02

Sue, I should ask three questions, first, since you say you are using the templates from RootsMagic.

1. Are those 3 citations the formats that RootsMagic produces?

2. If so, are there specific elements you are questioning?

3. If so, have you used EE to determine whether there are discrepancies between EE and the RM templates?

1. Yes, the 3 citations are the formats that RM produced, but I created a new source template from Church Records (online databases)-compiler as lead element template.  This template references EE, QC-7, p320, sec 7.27, p343-44. 

The new source template is for Church Records (online databases)-database title as lead element.  I made the compiler field optional, added a CreatorOwner field that displays after Item Type.  To the Footnote text I added citing before the CreditLine field.  

This gave me a footnote that seemed like it follows how a layered citation that has the online database .as layer 1, the source detail as layer 2, and source of the source as layer 3.

Because I changed a source template a bit I;m not sure if the footnote text and the short footnote text and the bibliography text came out as they should.

2.  I am questioning whether between NEHGS, the individual church, and the Archdiocese of Boston I have entered those responsible for the records in the appropriate layers.

I'm not sure how to record the item of interest - in Latin &/or English.

I have cited the St Francis de Sales page number, but have not used any of the information in this URL.

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB2726/i/56954/654/1426334465

I think I don't need to as I have the page from the church register, but not sure on this.

3. There does not seem to be a discrepancy between the EE referenced for the original RM source template.  The way I set it up in the new, edited source template  the Compiler or CreatorOwner is not the first element, but the database exact title is the lead element.  

Submitted byEEon Fri, 12/06/2019 - 11:42

Sue, thanks for explaining your reasoning. From your comments, I’m still not clear as to whether you are working solely from your software templates or whether you have EE itself, where basic principles and options are discussed.

If you have EE, you will find there many examples of citations to databases in which the lead element is the name of the database. The very first QuickCheck model in EE (p. 94, Archived Documents: Digitized) is one such. In fact, almost every chapter of EE has a QuickCheck model of that type. However, different software companies pick-and-choose their own selection of EE examples.

As researchers, working with online materials, we do need optional approaches. Sometimes, it works best for our citation to feature the original record book—typically when we have many citations to a specific book. Sometimes, it works best for our citation to feature the database itself, typically when it offers many different record books. That is why we have the concept of layered citations, so we can mix and match as needed. EE itself explains the options and offers many examples. This website’s QuickLesson 19 “Layered Citations Work Like Layered Clothing,” also explains those principles in detail.

In your examples, the fact that you chose to lead with a database title is no problem. However, there are basic issues that need discussing. (Again, I  have no way of knowing whether the issues exist in your software or in your adaptation.)

REFERENCE NOTE, LAYER 1.  Your citation gives us this:

"Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920," database with images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (https://www.americanancestors.org/ : downloaded 14 November 2019), James Bradley, baptized 8 May 1892; ...

What are you using?  Your second field, the one that explains the database title, tells us that it’s a database with images. However, in the field for specific item “James Bradley, baptized 8 May 1892” there's nothing to clue us in as to whether you are citing the database or the image. (EE 1.23, 2.11–2.12 would help on this point.) That field should tell us (and you, at a later date after your recollection of the sources has gone cold) which you are you using—as, for example:

  • ... database entry for James Bradley, baptized 8 May 1892 ...
  • ... imaged page 654, James Bradley, baptized 8 May 1892 ...

REFERENCE NOTE, LAYER 2. Your citation gives us this:

; citing St. Francis de Sales (Charlestown) Baptisms, 1880-1893, page 654 of 715 [Archive, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston].

Are you citing page numbers or image numbers or intermingling the two?

Our QuickTips blog post, “Source Citations & the Velcro Principle” might help you here. Specifically, to your example:

  • When we cite pages in a book, we don’t say “page 654 of however-many.”  We simply say “page 654.” 
  • When we cite images in a database, we may choose to say how many images there are in that database. This practice has come to be because (a) because there are often many similarly-titled databases, of differing lengths; and (b) providers of databases frequently drop portions of the database or enlarge the database, thereby changing the image number. Saying “image ___ of ___” can be a useful datapoint that alerts us when something has changed.

The link you gave is behind a paywall, so I cannot check specifics on this point. The isolated image you supplied does reveal that it is page 654, but it does not tell us what image number or how many images there are in that database. Almost always with imaged books online, the image number and the page number do not correspond.

Should there be editorial brackets around the identity of the repository?

As EE.2.58 (Fundamentals of Citation) notes, square editorial brackets are used to signify that we are adding something of our own knowledge that is not to be found in the work we are citing.  

When I go to the website, query for the database, and search it for a name and date, I find a citation for that set of records. There, the database is clearly citing “Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston” and “St. Francis De Sales (Charlestown) Baptisms 1880–1892.” This is not a case in which we are adding, from our own knowledge, an identifier that the provider fails to give us.

SHORT REFERENCE NOTE. You citation gives us this:

"Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920," database with images,  New England Historic Genealogical Society, James Bradley, baptized 8 May 1892.

How is the New England Historic Genealogical Society connected to James Bradley?

We’re back to that Velcro Principle here. The name of the creator should be attached to the name of the work that it created, not to the specific item of interest.

The problem here stems from the fact that in Layer 1 you chose to identify the creator of the database and website after the name of the database, instead of before it. Now that you’re doing a shortened citation, you realize that the name of the creator needs to be there somewhere. Putting the creator’s name after the name of the published database and after the description of the database leaves the creator’s name coupled with the name of the child being baptized. 

I don’t know whether this construction is the product created by your software or by your adaptation, but if you’ll scan EE’s many examples of citing database with images, you’ll see that the short form consists of

                Creator name (optional), “Database Title, Website Title, specific item.  

In the short note, we do not have to say what type of database we’re using. That info is given in the full citation. But if we cite the name of the creator, we cite it before the item that entity created, not after it where it will be confused with part of the information taken from the source.

 

WEBSITE’S PROFFERED CITATION. As you note, the website tries to make it easy for us by offering a citation:

Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2019 (From records supplied by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston)

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB2726/rd/56954/654/1426334465

If you choose to use this citation format, you should be aware of three issues:

  • The suggested format is a Source List Entry, not the Reference Note format that we create for each and every piece of information taken from that source. If we use this format (with a period between each field) for our Reference Note, where we often have multiple sources cited in the same note, we’ll create utter confusion as to where details from one source stops and details for the next source begins. In Reference Notes, each source is cited in a single sentence, with a period only at the end.
  • The citation puts the URL in a paragraph by itself, as though it is a separate source from the paragraph above it. Again, if we do this in a reference note, we imply they are two different sources. The URL should be part of the same sentence that provides the other identifying detail for that source. In EE format, the URL is the place of publication and it is always handled exactly as the place of publication is handled for any published work.

More seriously,

  • The citation uses italics for both the name of the database and the name of the website. A regular user of this website would know the difference. However, odds are that most of those who use our own work will not be regular users of the website and would be confused as to what exactly we are citing. A standard principle of citation (any style guide, not just EE) is that the titles of standalone publications are placed in italics, while the titles of parts of that publication are placed in quotation marks. This principle holds whether the publication is in print form or digital.

 

LATIN OR ENGLISH:

EE 2.16 “Citing Personal Names” (indexed also under “Names, personal, correcting”) will guide you here.

Also EE’s chapter 7 (Church Records) gives a number of examples of citing records that are in languages other than the one in which we are writing. (In each chapter, the international examples for that record type are at the end of each chapter.)  EE 7.16 specifically addresses non-English church books in U.S. archives. 

Again, the issue here is whether you intend for your citation to cite the imaged original or the provider’s database entry.

EE,

Thank you so much for your guidance and your reply full of information.  I have been working on learning and constructing the citation off and on over the weekend.  I am both working with the RootsMagic software templates and with EE and pertinent QuickLessions on the website to better understand the principles. 

 

I want to have the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston records database as the lead element so that I can use one source list entry/master source for the many citations I will have.   There are over 100 church’s (with multiple sacramental record books for each church) contained in the database.  I will be citing these records for several generations of ancestors scattered across the landscape of eastern Massachusetts, going back to the 1850’s.  If I were to site the original record books as layer 1, I would have, for each church multiple master sources.

 

Another option, I know, is to have the compiler (NEHGS) as the lead element.  For some reason, I want to feature the database, then secondarily the creator, NEHGS. 

 

I copied a RootsMagic provided Church Records (online databases) master source and source detail template that has the compiler as the lead element.  I edited the copied template so that the database is the lead element.  I tweaked the Footnote template text so that the item type is after the http and access info.  I tweaked the Short Footnote to add the website title and delete the item type.  I have used as a guide mostly EE QuickCheck Model: Derivatives – Church Records Database, Online, p. 320 and QuickCheck Model: Archived Material: Digital Archives, p. 94, along with the EE reading, and your observations and suggestions in this email thread.

 

This is what my edited RM template produced once I entered the information into the master source and source detail forms.  

RM Bibliography: (EE Source List Entry)
"Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920." Database with images. New England Historic Genealogical Society. American Ancestors. https://www.americanancestors.org : 2019.

RM Footnote: (EE First/Full Reference Note)
"Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920," New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (https://www.americanancestors.org : downloaded 14 November 2019), database with images, imaged page 654, entry for James Bradley, baptized 8 May 1892; citing St. Francis de Sales (Charlestown) Baptisms, 1880-1893, Archives of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.

RM Short Footnote: (EE Subsequent/Short Note)
"Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920," American Ancestors, imaged page 654, entry for James Bradley, baptized 8 May 1892.

 

PAGE NUMBERS, IMAGE NUMBERS, ETC.

The database information and image, when viewed on American Ancestors, looks like this:

Image removed.

 

The page number is the page number from the St. Francis de Sales record book.  There is no database image number displayed in this view above or in the Transcript view.  The full image URL below tells us that 56954 is the volume ID (the St. Francis de Sales volume, I presume) and the page is 654.  I do not see anywhere that there is a database image number.

https://www.americanancestors.org/databases/massachusetts-roman-catholic-archdiocese-of-boston-records-1789-1920/image?volumeId=56954&pageName=654

The shortened URL version below, which is below the image online, goes to the same location online as the URL above.  This adds the DB# information.

https://www.americanancestors.org/DB2726/i/56954/654/0

So, it seems that page 654 is for both the original and the database.

LATIN OR ENGLISH:

Because the name of the baptized is written in English in the left column, I decided to go with the English only.  The transcript does provide each name in the entry in this format: Jacobum, James Bradley.  The records can be searched by either James Bradley or Jacobum Bradley.  I put the James, Jacobum Bradley in the research notes with this citation.

This is how it looks when in the citation editing screen in RM:

Image removed.

 

Am I on the right track for my purposes with the citations produced from the RM, Sue edited template?  Do I need to make further adjustments?  Do you have any further suggestions?  Once again, I very much appreciate your expertise and guidance,

Sue