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I have found an obituary in Netha Meyer's Obituary Collection Index online at http://iagenweb.org/iowa/bmd/obits-index-netha-1.htm
I emailed the Williamsburg Historical Commission and they emailed me back a photocopy of the original newspaper obituary. The obituary does not have the date or the name of the newspaper on it. How do I cite this? It looks like I will be obtaining more obituaries from this collection for more family members, so I'm thinking I should use either the author or collection title as the lead element. I have a few questions though. Since I have the photocopy of the newspaper obituary itself, do I still need to cite the online index? Do I need to cite the email too? On the website listed above the Source and Credit information is listed, which includes extraction volunteers. Do their names need to be includes in my citation? Do I list the repository, Williamsburg Historical Commission? Or do I just cite it as an artifact in my possession with unknown newspaper name and date?
Thank you,
Tom
tpgentry:
tpgentry:
Answers to your several questions will be interspersed amid those questions below.
>I emailed the Williamsburg Historical Commission and they emailed me back a photocopy of the original newspaper obituary. The obituary does not have the date or the name of the newspaper on it. How do I cite this?
Have you run a key word search (or index search if you’re using the print edition) for “newspaper clippings”? Clippings for which we do not know the paper or other essential details are treated specifically at EE3.36. The QuickCheck Model at p. 105 also addresses the problem from a different angle.
>Since I have the photocopy of the newspaper obituary itself, do I still need to cite the online index?
See EE 2.12 “Citing Indexes & Finding Aids.”
(As a tip here: most users find that they are better served if they sit down and read the first two chapters of EE, “Fundamentals of Evidence Analysis” and “Fundamentals of Citation.” This prepares them to handle many common research and citation dilemmas.)
>Do I need to cite the email too?
The letters of transmittal that accompany documents supplied to us by businesses, libraries, etc., are discussed and demonstrated often in EE. A quick search for the keyword “letter” turns up the following for starters: 4.8, 4.14, 4.15, 4.24 & QuickCheck Model p. 163.
>On the website listed above the Source and Credit information is listed, which includes extraction volunteers. Do their names need to be includes in my citation?
EE will answer this question with two questions: (1) Did these volunteers author the material you are citing? (2) If you were citing just an ordinary book, would you feel it appropriate to cite, in addition to the author and publisher, all the individuals who labored on the book in the publisher’s office, in the printing house, and in the distribution system?
> Do I list the repository, Williamsburg Historical Commission?
EE 2.19 “Citing Repositories,” covers the issue of when we should and when we typically don’t.
>Or do I just cite it as an artifact in my possession with unknown newspaper name and date?
Ah, yes. This fallback can be tempting! But you would better serve yourself and later users of your work if you create a citation that actually explains what you are using and how you acquired it.