Documentation of Research Notes

jlove, there is no one citation model that would cover everything your father likely used. Family history is documented one fact at a time; and the type of source from which each piece of information comes will determine what particular details we need to record as "proof" of the assertion we have just made.

Inheriting all your father’s work is a blessing, but I’m sure you are also feeling overwhelmed.  Getting a guide book that’s 892 pages long probably added another two tons to the mound of work you’re looking at! But the project is doable and worthy—and you have many wonderful experiences ahead.

If this were me, I’d think of my role as that of my father’s editor, shepherding his work into print. You say he had already begun writing. Focus first on what he has already written. This will help you understand his writing style, the family he worked on, and what his intentions were. Page by page, do everything that an editor would do to a manuscript of this type. Verify one fact at a time. Create a citation for that fact, following one of the EE models for that type of source. If his source is an original document, then you cite the original document. If that source is a book, then you cite the book. Etc. Evidence Explained has model citations for just about every type of source in existence, be it original records, print publications, or digital materials. Then move on to the next fact.

The obvious question here is this: Did your father cite his source for each piece of information? If not, then—until you find the proof—you need a “temporary” citation to your father’s files. That introduces other issues: How did your father organize his files? Are they electronic files or manuscript files? 

You can create a generic name for his research archive.  Say: "Manuscript Files of John Doe Smith" or “Electronic Files of John Doe Smith.” But a generic citation to his files would be pointless if you do not identify where in his files one would find the piece of information that you are citing. Typically, family researchers subdivide their work by surname, or by generation, or by locale, or—especially if they have already begun writing—by chapter. What organization did your father use?

EE’s QuickStart Guide, tipped into the front of the book, will give you a half-dozen basic models that cover the most-common types of sources. EE’s chapter 3 will guide you in the citation of manuscript materials and family records. If your father accumulated images of documents, then your citation of those would be guided by the type of record. Each subsequent chapter of EE covers a different record type.

As you begin to cite the documents your father created, how well you can follow the models will depend upon how well your father identified his own sources. If he accumulated documents without citations thereon,  then you would not attempt to cite them to any public archive, library, or record office. Instead, describe the document as best you can, answering the basic questions: who, what, when, where? After you've described the document, then, in the same “citation sentence,” add on a provenance statement of the type you find in Chapter 3 to say that the imaged document appears in Folder Whatever of “Manuscript Files of John Doe Smith,” inherited and maintained by his daughter ____________ (City, State).

Best wishes!