Database with Images from different provider

McPhilbrick, sorry I didn't spot this sooner. What sections of EE have you been studying as possibilities?  (You mention RootsMagic and "a template based on Evidence Explained," but templates in the software don't provide the background instruction that's needed to understand how to handle quirky sources of this type.)

Marcia, given that 11.52 deals with photographic files at NARA and 11.54 deals with Slave Narratives (in all editions)—while you are using county-level marriage records—let’s eliminate those from consideration. This leaves us with several issues to discuss.  Because this response will be long, I will break it into several different postings.

(1) Distinguishing between a footnote and a source list entry.

A footnote or endnote (aka "reference note") is written as a "sentence." Section 2.38 in the "Fundamentals of Citation" chapter gives us this fundamental principle:

Reference Notes: Separation of elements

All elements that describe the source are linked together, sentence style. A period appears at the end of each source’s citation. No period appears in the middle of elements that describe a source (aside from an occasionally abbreviated word).

Source Lists: Separation of elements

“The major elements that describe the source are separated by periods.

In a reference note, when you place a period at the end of a “sentence” and start a new “sentence,” you are telling us that everything in the new sentence deals with a different source. I don’t think that’s what you intend here.

(2) Basic rules for citing databases online:

2.12  Citing Indexes & Finding Aids

“When an index points us to a source and we proceed to consult that source, we rarely need to cite the index. An exception would be a case in which an index provides some sort of special insight.”

2.32 Online Materials: Basic Elements to Cite

“Online sources are publications, with the same basic elements as print publications. … Within this framework, we have just four basic rules to remember:

Rule 1: Most websites are the online equivalent of a book. Therefore we cite [Author/Creator, Title (publication place : date), specific page or item].

Rule 2: A website that offers multiple items by different creators is the equivalent of a book with chapters by different authors. That calls for two additional items at the beginning of the citation [Author/Creator (if one is identified); “Title of Database, Chapter, or Article”].

Thus, in your mock-up above, the title of the database should be in quotation marks to tell the reader “This is the exact title for which you should search at Ancestry.” A lack of quotation marks for the data that you enter into the “database title” field tells the reader that you have just generically described the material. Also, see my Part (3) below about mixing details of the database with details of the original source.

(3) Citing an index vs. images

Your initial question states that (a) Ancestry has indexed a set of records, which it presents in a database, while (b) FamilySearch presents the images.  The most basic principle of citation is this: We cite what we take our information from.

• If we take our information from an index and don’t consult the original, then we cite the database that provides the index. (Actually, in this case, what Ancestry is providing isn’t just an index, it’s an extract of the data from the marriage register. See 1.22: Abstracts vs. Extracts; and 1.23 Database Entries & Indexes.)  If we take our information from this extract, then we cite the extract.
• If we take our information from an image of the original, then we cite the original and the specific database/website that provides the image.

In this case, apparently, it is the FamilySearch image from which you want to take your data. Therefore (as per 2.12 above), it’s the FamilySearch database and its image that you cite.

The Local & State Records: … Vital Records chapter of EE (Chapter 9) gives us the patterns for citing marriage records that we access online through a database as well as index entries or extracts. Particularly see 9.6 “Basic Formats: Online Resources.”

There’s one other basic principle here that applies. When we cite record images or database entries from a website, we have two choices, depending upon what we want to feature:

1. Cite the database in layer 1; then cite the imaged record in layer 2
2. Cite the imaged record in layer 1; then cite the database that provides the images in layer 2.

Some people prefer one approach; some prefer another. If, in this case, you want to create just one “master source” for the database and then—each time you use it—add the specific detail about the county, register name, page, entry number, etc., then you would choose the first approach. If you want to feature the county and its set of marriage records, then you would choose the second option. That’s where peas and apples are being mixed in your mock-up.

The basic rule for citing complex sources that involve layers is this: All information that deals with the original record itself should go in that layer; and all information that identifies the database (a new creation by someone else) should go in that database layer.  (Edition 3's QuickStart Guide, at flyleaf, covers this with more explicitness) Your mock-up seems to favor option 2, but it takes the title of the database and puts it in the first layer where you need to cite the record itself. When we cite a record, we begin with the name of the creator of that record. In this case, the creator of the record is the specific county, it’s not “Kansas, County Marriages, 1811-1911.”

This leads us to your bottom line: How do you cite this particular collection of local registers from FamilySearch? The version of EE that you have at hand (2d edition) does not have an example for county-level marriage registers at FamilySearch. However, it does (10.6) have an example of county-level deed records. That difference is meaningless. A county-level register is a county-level register. All we do is substitute specific details.

Also, if you will query this EE website (top right of any screen) for “marriage records” you will find several examples that deal with marriage databaes at FamilySearch,with discussions. For example:

https://www.evidenceexplained.com/content/need-your-opinion-marriage-record

https://www.evidenceexplained.com/content/online-image-databases-and-ftm-family-tree-maker-2014

Marcia,

EE would do one more tweak to your first citation (aside from putting FamilySearch in italics).The source-of-the-source data can and should be more explicit. Rather than "citing district clerk, court clerk, county clerk and register offices from various counties," which is a very generic Ancestry type of collection description, it would be more useful to say

imaged from Woodson Co. Marriage Records, Book E (1891-1896): 180. 

Using our own eyes to verify what has been imaged, we can see the page number on the image for the page. Then, by scrolling back to the start of the volume, we can see for ourselves the register title that is actually written/printed on the cover of the volume.

We could, if we wish to cover all bases, add a "citing"layer to report FamilySearch's own citation that appears under the "Information" tab at the bottom of the image as a "Film note," which would be

FHL film no. 004665195, covering Woodson County "Marriage records: v. E-G 1891 (Jul)-1904 (Dec)."

Of course, when FamilySearch says "Film note," they are creating a generic description for all items that appear on that roll of film, rather than precisely citing a specific county record.