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Dear EE,
I'm struggling with my first few citations of ships' passenger lists. The date on the document is different from the known arrival date of the ship by a day or two (from newspaper ship arrival notices and even naturalization documents).
The date on the list is given as the "arrival date" by Ancestry (as it should be given no other information).
Following EE, 4th ed. 12.15 for Passenger Manifests, Online Images: " ... S.S. Vedamore, Liverpool to Baltimore, arrived 6 July 1910 ... " I hesitate to use the document date and/or the word "arrived" as the arrival date when I know it is wrong.
I was thinking of including both dates in my citation (identifying each), but I'm guessing EE might say "Where on that document is your 'correct' date?"
Might I put the correct date in [editorial brackets], or add a note to that citation, possibly pointing to my other sources that give the correct date?
In any case I'm thinking of replacing "arrived" with "list submitted" or something like that.
Thanks
Jeff
Jeff, when we cite a…
Jeff, when we cite a document, we cite the details by which that document is identified. If we perceive an error in the wording that identifies it, we may place a correction in square editorial brackets—as discussed at EE4 §8.33 "Correcting an erroneous date on a record label."
As for descriptive words we used to identify a record or bridge words that we use to introduce a source, we should always select the appropriate word to identify the situation. We should not choose a word simply because it is used in some citation example for a situation that has its own vagaries. Judgment is always required.