Confused about census digital page numbers

By Tower19 on Thu, 03/25/2021 - 15:52

Forums

When citing a census record that is online, such as ancestry.com, are we recording the page or sheet number from the image itself in the reference, or are we recording the digital page that your getting it from? On page 237 on the quickcheck, the example given says p.290(stamped) but the example is a census record taken from a digital source. The census I'm looking at has a penned number next to a stamped letter, (4B) but a digital page of 8. I've been confused about this. 

Submitted byEEon Fri, 03/26/2021 - 09:18

Tower 19, there are two things involved in your citation to an online image—any kind of online image, whether it’s a census or something else:

  1. The original document.
  2. The online database and/or website that publishes the image.

Typically, we cite each of these two items in its own “layer,” with a semi-colon separating the layers. Details that belong to one layer should never be mixed into the other.

When we are using censuses:

  • The original census has page numbers (or folio numbers in some cases).
  • The online publication (website and database) that provides the census has its own organizational structure, which may include a path with waypoints that end with image numbers (not page numbers). Therefore, a publisher’s image number would not be mixed in with the details for the original census.

With censuses that we cite in full in Layer 1, we rarely have to cite the publisher’s path or image number in order to find the right census page. We can if we wish, in which case we would add that to Layer 2 (which identifies the online publication), but it’s not essential. That is why the publisher's path and image number is not cited in the QuickCheck Model on EE’s p. 237.

Submitted byTower19on Fri, 03/26/2021 - 19:37

Okay I think I understand, this is the census I'm working on

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9R41-QZQ?i=8&cc=1810731&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AXMPD-7XB

This would be my working full reference note I would write out. Since my census contains a sheet number if I understand correctly on page 261 in E.E, it explains that if you cite the sheet number to place it after the enumeration number which I have.

1930 U.S. census, Hartford County, Connecticut, population schedule, Bristol, enumeration district 95, sheet number 4B, dwelling 60, family 99, Jane Watkins immigration year (1890); image, familysearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ : accessed 1 October 2020); citing NRA microfilm publication T626 roll 261

do I have to cite the 4B is stamped or penned? after reading E.E i get the impression that you cite that if there's more then one set of numbers?

 

 

 

Submitted byEEon Sat, 03/27/2021 - 09:20

You've got the hang of it, Tower19. Just two things more:

  • The name of the website you used is FamilySearch, rather than familysearch.org.
  • The location, as shown on the page you cite, is Bristol City, Bristol Township. By 1930, growing population density meant that areas were broken down into smaller jurisdictions for enumeration. That's good for us. It helps us place the person of interest much more precisely into his or her neighborhood. But it means that we have to be more precise also.