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This maybe a case of too much information! I am trying to cite some petitions for land grants. I used the FHL microfilm 1630725
The FHL catalogue listing is as follows:
title: Petitions for land grants and leases, 1791-1967
authors: Upper Canada. Executive Council
roll information: C-2739 Perth Military Settlement, no. 13-29 1819-1825 Perth misc., petitions no. 1-14 1798-1820 Perth Military Settlement, petitions no. 30-77 1820-1825 Vol. 422, bundle Q-1 -- bundle Q-22 Vol. 422A, bundle Q-1 - Q-6, petition no. 4 1792-1852
The index for this microfilm lists the following: Jas Lennon vol. 421, p. 48d, C2739, and James Douris vol. 421, p. 48e, C2739. C-2739 is the LAC microfilm, vol. 421 is not listed in the roll description, however vol. 421 is "petitions no. 30-77 1820-1825"
The LAC website description for C-2739:
title: Perth Military Settlement
file part of: Land submissions to the Executive Council [textual record] (R10875-4-5-E)
LAC website description for Land submissions to the Executive Council
title: Land submissions to the Executive Council [textual record]
series part of: Executive Council Office of the Province of Upper Canada fonds [textual record] (R10875-0-8-E)
dates: 1783-1865
I believe the smallest part would be: Perth Military Settlement, vol. 421. petition no. 48, p. d, no. 822, Jas Lennon
I am not sure what goes before that and the order. Should I use the LAC series, Executive Council Office of the Province of Upper Canada fonds, followed by Land submissions to the Executive Council or the FHL title?
Because the index lists the film by the LAC microfilm number should I include there film number and the FHL film number.
Ann Gilchrest
Ann
Ann
There are several ways this could be cited. The way I’d cite it is not necessarily the way you might want to cite it. I’m a Canadian and we tend to order the elements in archival citations from large element to small. So what I would cite is this:
Upper Canada Land Petitions, RG 1, L 3, vol. 421, Perth Military Settlement, no. 48d, “Return of Persons entitled to Patent Grants,” Jas Lennon, entry 822; Library and Archives Canada; FHL microfilm 1,630,725.
If your compilation includes NARA citations in small to large order, for the sake of consistency you might want a similar construction for this too. I’m not so good at going in the other direction (backwards <g>), but the end result would be more like
Jas Lennon, entry 822, “Return of Persons entitled to Patent Grants;” no. 48d, Perth Military Settlement, vol. 421; Upper Canada Land Petitions, RG 1, L 3; Library and Archives Canada; FHL microfilm 1,630,725.
To comment on a few other issues:
-- I haven’t used either the FHL catalogue title or the LAC website description you gave but these records were microfilmed with a label on each page identifying them as Upper Canada Land Petitions and that’s the name by which they are widely known, so that’s what I’ve used. The RG 1, L 3 and volume detail is there too. The R10875-0-8-E you mentioned is used in LAC’s computer system but not for anything else.
-- This collection mainly consists of petitions and they are organized in bundles. This document isn’t a petition and the bundle doesn’t carry the usual letter designation. I find myself wanting to cite it in similar fashion to a petition in a lettered bundle, although the result might seem odd to someone not used to working with this collection. In this case the description “Perth Military Settlement” is equivalent to the bundle identifier.
Alison Hare, CG
Ottawa, Ontario
Tealady1,
Tealady1,
Question 1: Is your citation "too ungainly"? Realistically, "ungainly" isn't an issue for EE. We are inclined to think that thoroughness and clarity trumps gracefulness. EE's one concern about your proposed citation is the long URL—one so long that it has been automatically truncated. What happens if the website changes just one element of the URL? Have you thought about citing it to the database search page, "Microform Digitization" http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/index-e.html and, from there, specify which collection to search?
Question 2: Yes, the Centre has recently changed its name, apparently without any announcements. About the only remnant left of its former name is the "gc" that remains in the URL. While government agencies don't impose on us as many name changes as websites do, it's still a problem for our citations—and that, of course, is another reasons why our citations need to be created as completely as possible at the point of contact with the record.