Citing family bible notes from a DAR publication found on FamilySearch

Hello, Ryan.

You did, indeed, find a record set well known for its quirks. The best way to deal with all the issues is to start with the image and walk you (and our readers) through the thought process as we figure out what to cite.

The beginning point is the image you found.

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We can tell from the image that it’s a typed page in a bound book and it carries the typed number 171. And so, we ask: What is this part of?

Scrolling back, we can find p. 1 (image 579), which is simply another Bible record. Before that, we find images of the spine (image 572) and the title (image 574)

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Notice the line on the title page that I have highlighted. It tells us that this compilation is the work of DAR’s Genealogical Research Committee, a well-known entity that has compiled a vast number of volumes.

EE addresses the GRC volumes in Chapter 4, under “Lineage Society Materials”:

4.20 Compiled Records (GRC Reports), DAR

Members of the Daughters of the American Revolution have actively compiled local records for most of the past century. Citing them can be a challenge. Copies held at the local level or in state-level repositories typically carry the title assigned to them by the compiler. Copies held at the national level may have a different title, one assigned to it by the national library in an effort to standardize the whole series. …

What you are using is a sort-of in-between version of these GRC Reports—one by a very organized state organization that assembled the localized manuscripts into bound volumes with a series title. The spine gives us the series name and volume number:

Bible Records, vol. 3

The title page gives us the title of the manuscript:

“Unpublished Family Bible Records Together with Genealogical Notes and Other Unpublished Data”

Identity of Compiler

The first issue to consider now is Who do we cite as author/compiler of this series—the society, the committee, or the person with six names who is said to be both committee chair and compiler?

There’s no rigid rule. Any choice we make is going to create a long entry in the author/compiler field. You’ve chosen to use “Daughters of the American Revolution,” and EE agrees with you that this identification is essential.  However,

• this was not the work of the national organization of DAR; it was the work of a particular state conference that needs to be identified;
• it was also the work of a specific committee within DAR whose body of work is generally attributed to that committee. 

As an analogy here, if we were citing something published by the United States of America, Bureau of the Census, we would include the bureau. We would not cite just to the government that is an umbrella for many bureaus.

All things considered, EE would identify the compiler and the title of the work this way:

Genealogical Research Committee, New York State Conference, Daughters of the American Revolution

Title

For the title, you cite (in italics)

Bible, family and miscellaneous records from New York state, vol. 1-3.

Two issues here:

(1)

This title does not appear on any of the filmed pages. It obviously differs from what is on the title page. You found this set of words (with no italics) below the images, under the "Information" tab, within the database's framework; it appears under a header, “Catalog Record.” 

This is generic information created by FamilySearch catalogers to identify the contents of a film that contains several different items.  DAR did not publish a volume (or 3 vols.) called Bible, family and miscellaneous records from New York State. When we identify DAR as the author/compiler, then we have to use DAR’s title. Also relevant: The Family History Library, whose microfilm was digitized by FamilySearch, does not assign titles to individual rolls of  microfilm; it only creates cataloging data. FamilySearch (the website) may combine many rolls into a named collection; but individual rolls do not have titles.  An item's title is whatever is shown for the item within the film itself.

(2)

When we place a volume title in italics, we are saying that this is a published volume. But the item you've used is not a published volume. It’s a manuscript volume that has been bound, but not published. Its very title tells us that it’s not published: “Unpublished Family Bible Records Together with Genealogical Notes and Other Unpublished Data.”

In chapter 2, the ground rules for citations, 2.22 tells us:

• Titles of manuscripts go in quotation marks.
• Titles of books and other standalone publications are placed in italics.
• Titles of chapters within a book go in quotation marks.
• Titles of series are capitalized but don’t use quote marks or italics.

Putting together the compiler ID and the manuscript ID would give us this:

Genealogical Research Committee, New York State Conference, Daughters of the American Revolution, “Unpublished Family Bible Records Together with Genealogical Notes and Other Unpublished Data,”  …..

Series & Volume

The spine of the book, which FamilySearch has also imaged, tells us that the series is called Bible Records, and that it is vol. 3., so let’s add that to the citation in the position for series and volume:

Genealogical Research Committee, New York State Conference, Daughters of the American Revolution, “Unpublished Family Bible Records Together with Genealogical Notes and Other Unpublished Data,”  Bible Records, vol. 3 …

Publication or Creation Data

We’ve already established that this is not a publication but a manuscript—more specifically, a typed manuscript, aka typescript. Therefore, the where/when data that we put in parentheses after the title will be in the style used for typescripts. This is demonstrated in the EE 4.20 model for “Local or State Copy” of GRC compilations.  The creation data, like the title, comes from the title page of the volume:

Genealogical Research Committee, New York State Conference, Daughters of the American Revolution, “Unpublished Family Bible Records Together with Genealogical Notes and Other Unpublished Data,” Bible Records, vol. 3 (typescript, 1924–25, Albany, NY), …

Specific Page & Identification of Item

Normally, when citing a book or a manuscript, this is the point at which we would simply add a page number. In this case, the manuscript is a compilation of many different things and it is important to identify the item you are using. Because of its nature, that means you identify the Bible it was taken from, the person who transcribed it, and the owner and location. That creates a long entry in this “specific item” field of the citation:

Genealogical Research Committee, New York State Conference, Daughters of the American Revolution, “Unpublished Family Bible Records Together with Genealogical Notes and Other Unpublished Data,”  Bible Records, vol. 3 (typescript, 1924–25, Albany, NY), p. 171, “Skinner Family,” Bible data copied by Mrs. Frederick E. Davis, citing “THE HOLY BIBLE, published London, Printed by Mark Baskett … M.D.C.C.IXVIII [MDCCLXVIII? i.e., 1768?] owned by Lewis Skinner, Schenectady, NY”; ….

Image Provider

And now that we’re finished with Layer 1 (the identification of the original), Layer 2 will identify the provider:

Genealogical Research Committee, New York State Conference, Daughters of the American Revolution, “Unpublished Family Bible Records Together with Genealogical Notes and Other Unpublished Data,”  Bible Records, vol. 3 (typescript, 1924–25, Albany, NY), p. 171, “Skinner Family,” Bible data copied by Mrs. Frederick E. Davis, citing “THE HOLY BIBLE, published London, Printed by Mark Baskett … M.D.C.C.IXVIII [MDCCLXVIII? i.e., 1768?] owned by Lewis Skinner, Schenectady, NY”; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSGD-RJ8P) > digital film 008218656 > image 751 of 829.

Ryan, as now evident, it's I who owes you an apology. Your 10-day hiatus due to Life-itis pales in comparison to my one month delay!  In my case, someone I missed seeing this last message of yours when it arrived.

In any event, *thanks* for the update on both. We are indeed grateful to those who share their images online, with documentation and context.