Layered citation

ksgene12, there are a number of issues here to discuss, but these two need to be our starting point:

• Would you tell me which EE model you are following or adapting (the paragraph number and section or page number)?

• Would you check that film number you gave (167170)? When I call up that number in the FamilySearch catalog, in an effort to find the Bible record you are citing, FS describes the content as the registered copy of wills from the District Probate Registry, Norwich, England, 1816-1818.

ksgene 12, thanks for the additional information. The microfilm number works, but the record set  you are using can be viewed only if I make a 25-mile round trip to the nearest Family History Center. Since that’s not practical, let me ask you a few questions to better understand what you are dealing.

Your citation covers a number of different things and I'm not sure how to unpack it all. Of course, if it’s difficult for me to unpack, it will be difficult for your readers to unpack; and that's something you obviously are trying to prevent. When I review FHL’s description of the record set, I’m left even more uncertain of what is being offered. And so, I ask:

1. Can you supply an image of the page you want to cite?
2. Are these actual Bible images or are they transcriptions?  If they are transcriptions, then you are not citing a Bible record. You are citing a book of transcriptions, or an unpublished manuscript that contains transcriptions. This is a major issue and a major determinant of how we cite what we are using. (From the various elements you are including in your citation, I suspect this is the case.)
3. If you are citing an actual Bible image, is there also a title page for the Bible?  Do you have an image to share?
4. If you are citing someone’s transcriptions, is there a title page at the start of that set of transcriptions? Do you have an image to share? (When you scroll back from your page of interest to the start of the manuscript, do you see a title page that identifies the compiler, the exact title of the compilation, the location of the compiler, and the year compiled?)
5. Does this compilation carry page numbers?  (You've cited image numbers for the Bible page, but the image numbers are a construct of the microfilm; they're not part of the Bible or part of the compilation.)

You state: “Anything I know about this Bible is from information in the collection I am citing.”   When I compare specific elements from your citation against the library’s cataloging description at https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/456374?availability=Family%20History%20Library, I see that your phrase “Original manuscript and other records of the O’Rear (Orear) family, ca. 1490-1969”—a major descriptor that begins on your first line—is the exact phrase used by FHL to describe the contents of the whole roll of microfilm.

In this regard, see EE 2.27 “FHL Film of Unpublished Records" which states: "Be aware that the FHL catalog description frequently uses a generic label to describe the contents of an entire roll.” 

That catalog description is not part of the identity of the Bible itself. It is not part of the identity of any “authored” compilation you might be using. It's an artificial construct created by the library. If there is a need to include it, it would be attached to the library's microfilm number.

There are also a few shuffles we need to make to clarify the citation, but how we handle those will depend upon the answers to the five questions above.

Thanks, ksgene12, for the additional data.

As a starting point, let’s clarify one issue. The image you supplied from the start of film 1671369 would not be considered a "title page." This is the filmer’s  label or “target” that identifies a batch of materials being filmed. It does provide important information and lets us know that we’re working with an eclectic collection of unbound items. That, of course, is why you found no page numbers.

To cite this work, let’s go back to the basics. The core format for citing anything is

Author/Creator, Title in Italics or Quotation Marks (Publication or creation place & date), specific item.

You’ve begun your citation with a named Bible record, but you have not used the Bible and you do not have the necessary details to create a citation to the Bible.

As a label for the Bible, you cite “Daniel Orear Family Bible Records.” However, the imaged original page that you’ve depicted does not tell us whose Bible record this is. We just have a page of names that appears to have come from somebody’s Bible. The identity that you give for it in your citation is an assertion by the creator of the collection who is reporting hearsay told to him. It may or may not be correct.

In short, you are using a set of materials compiled by a person, of which one specific item is said to be the “Daniel Orear Family Bible Records.”  As such, this fits the basic format, given above, for citing a source--with the info on the Bible being given in the "specific item" field.

Using the filmer’s target that you cite for film 1,671,370, the basic citation (with each layer in a different color) would be this:

E. C. O’Rear II, “Original Manuscripts and Other Records of the O’Rear (Orear) Family [filmer’s label],” unnumbered two-page item cited by the compiler as “Family Bible Record of Daniel O’Rear (No. 18) of Boone County, Missouri"; imaged, Family History Library microfilm 1,6711,370, images 593–94; filmed 1976 from holdings of the Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort.

Explanations ...

Layer One:

• We cite the compiler and the title in quotation marks because it’s unpublished material. (If it were the title of a standalone publication, we’d use italics.)
• We add an explanation to that title, in square editorial brackets, because we’re quoting from the filmer’s target, rather than citing a formal title on a manuscript, and we need to say where that identification comes from.
• We have no publication data or manuscript creation date because we’re dealing with an assortment of materials accumulated over a period of time rather than one titled and dated narrative.
• We end that layer of the citation with a description of the specific item, using the information provided by the compiler.

Layer Two:

• We identify the format in which we consulted this material, the provider, the film number, and the image number of the film.  (The image number should not be layer 1 in which we identify the original, because the original is not numbered. The image number is a construct of the film.)

Layer Three:

• We identify the location of the original.

At this point, the citation does not include one other piece of important information: the provenance of the “original page” that is said to be the “Family Bible Record of Daniel O’Rear.”  In a less-complex citation, the provenance of the document can be stated in the same sentence as the core citation. In this case, because this citation already has three layers, it would be clearer to the reader if we simply started a new sentence to discuss the provenance. For example:

E. C. O’Rear II, “Original Manuscripts and Other Records of the O’Rear (Orear) Family [filmer’s label],” unnumbered two-page item cited by the compiler as “Family Bible Record of Daniel O’Rear (No. 18) of Boone County, Missouri"; imaged, Family History Library microfilm 1,6711,370, images 593–94; filmed 1976 from holdings of the Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort.   According to O’Rear, images from this Bible (but not the title page to identify it) were supplied to him in 1947 by "Samuel Allen O’Rear of Brown’s Station, Missouri,” at which time the original was said to be in the possession of Robert Buggett of Boone County, Missouri.

ksgene12, sentences 1-3 of your paragraph 2 are wise words indeed. Thanks for posting them, as a reminder to others.