Birth Certificate Index

By TheCount on Fri, 01/15/2021 - 18:02

Forums

I need to temporarily cite an entry in Ancestry's "New York, New York, U.S., Index to Death Certificates, 1862-1948" database.

Ancestry provide this information:

Source Citation

New York City Department of Records & Information Services; New York City, New York; New York City Death Certificates; Year: 1911

Source Information

Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Index to Death Certificates, 1862-1948 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT. USA: 2020.

Original data: New York City Department of Records & Information Services. New York City Death Certificates.

But under the description it tells how to obtain a copy of the record - Visit the Department of Records/Municipal Archives website, www.nyc.gov/records

Am I wrong in thinking that source of source should be Municipal Archives since that is where it is held? or do I just cite what Ancestry says?

Submitted byEEon Sat, 01/16/2021 - 09:10

TheCount, two different issues are at play here:

  • The facility where the records are housed (or were housed at the time the records were imaged)
  • The facility where one goes to request a certified/whatever copy.

Ancestry's bifurcation and duplication of details between arbitrary labels called "Source Citation" and "Source Information"—and its nonstandard usage of italics for titles of both published material and manuscript collections—frequently leaves us guessing as to what is meant.

If EE were creating this citation, in the source-of-the-source layer, we would say

"... citing "Original data: New York City Department of Records & Information Services."

EE would use quotation marks to indicate that EE is quoting Ancestry exactly.