citing the National Archives UK from a record imaged at Ancestry

By Hendrickson on Thu, 07/09/2020 - 12:53

Forums

Just need some tips on citing the source of the source for this item.
https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2972/images/40612_B0151572-00113

It appears that Ancestry has all the right pieces in what they suggest as a citation. I could use exactly that, put it all in quotes and call it a day.

“England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1970,” database with images, Ancestry, (https://www.ancestry.com : 8 July 2020) > RG4: Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths > London > Independent > Piece 4262: City Road, The Tabernacle (Independent), 1768-1840 > image 114, folio 110 verso, entry for Edward Knowles, baptized 5 May 1807; citing "The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; General Register Office: Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths surrendered to the Non-parochial Registers Commissions of 1837 and 1857; Class Number: RG 4; Piece Number: 4262"

More info from the Archives: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C13329

But then I started wondering if I should make some modifications and try and streamline it... but I have questions.

- Should I change the punctuation or keep it? (changing colons and semicolons to commas)
- Do I need the location of the Archives? (Kew, Surrey, England)
- Does the name of the catalog item need to be in quotes?
- Do I need to use the words class number and piece number or is there an arrangements in which the numbers make sense?


I still feel like I might be totally messing this up, but thought I'd give it a shot anyway. 

“England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1970,” database with images, Ancestry, (https://www.ancestry.com : 8 July 2020) > RG4: Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths > London > Independent > Piece 4262: City Road, The Tabernacle (Independent), 1768-1840 > image 114, folio 110 verso, entry for Edward Knowles, baptized 5 May 1807; citing "class RG 4, piece 4262, General Register Office: Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths surrendered to the Non-parochial Registers Commissions of 1837 and 185, The National Archives of the UK."

OR

“England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1970,” database with images, Ancestry, (https://www.ancestry.com : 8 July 2020) > RG4: Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths > London > Independent > Piece 4262: City Road, The Tabernacle (Independent), 1768-1840 > image 114, folio 110 verso, entry for Edward Knowles, baptized 5 May 1807; citing "The National Archives of the UK, General Register Office: Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths surrendered to the Non-parochial Registers Commissions of 1837 and 1857, class RG 4, piece 4262."

 

Thank you.

Submitted byEEon Thu, 07/09/2020 - 18:34

Hendrickson, you've done well. EE would be inclined to use your first example, except for the elimination of the last six words which are redundant. The RG and piece numbers are already cited in the first layer.

EE can also offer some nitpicking:

  • The title of the website, Ancestry, should be in italics.
  • Delete the comma between Ancestry and (https ...)  The purpose of a set of parentheses is to say "This is parenthetical data that describes what's immediately before it." The purpose of a comma is to split things. If we use a comma before the parens, we defeat our purpose for the parens.
  • In your citing layer, you have three different passages each with quotation marks around them. Surely Ancestry didn't give you a choice of three different citations to its source. If we copy exactly the words our source used (i.e., if we quote our source), then we use quotation marks. If we don't copy them exactly, then we're not quoting, we're paraphrasing.

Re your questions:

  • For citing "piece number," etc.,from English archives, see EE 7.38.
  • Yes, you need to cite the location of the archives. That's standard for all archives.
  • As for whether the name of the "catalog item" needs to be in quotes, I can't tell from your citation which set of words represent the "catalog item."

 

Submitted byEventideon Fri, 07/10/2020 - 09:45

I guess I didn't realize that if the piece and class numbers were in the path they would be considered redundant if used elsewhere in the citation. Thanks for clearing that up. This leaves me with:

“England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1970,” database with images, Ancestry, (https://www.ancestry.com : 8 July 2020) > RG4: Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths > London > Independent > Piece 4262: City Road, The Tabernacle (Independent), 1768-1840 > image 114, folio 110 verso, entry for Edward Knowles, baptized 5 May 1807; citing "The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; General Register Office: Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths surrendered to the Non-parochial Registers Commissions of 1837 and 1857"

Submitted byEEon Mon, 07/13/2020 - 18:49

Eventide, to finesse the citation, EE would make a couple of tweaks:

“England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1970,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : 8 July 2020) > RG4: Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths > London > Independent > Piece 4262: City Road, The Tabernacle (Independent), 1768-1840 > image 114, folio 110 verso, entry for Edward Knowles, baptized 5 May 1807; citing "The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; General Register Office: Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths surrendered to the Non-parochial Registers Commissions of 1837 and 1857."

The title of a website, like the title of a book or journal, should be in italics to identify it as the title of a published, standalone entity.

I've also removed the extraneous comma between "Ancestry" and the open parentheses. The purpose of a parentheses is to provide additional material that needs to be attached to what comes before it. The purpose of a comma is to splice two things. The comma, therefore, undoes your intent for the pair of parentheses.