U.S. Agricultural schedules

By mbcross on Fri, 10/11/2024 - 14:12

Forums

I am working through U.S. agricultural schedules available on Ancestry. I am using Ancestry Library Edition, though, so my links will reflect that.

I have a database: “U.S., Selected Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880," but I'm not sure whether I really need to use it in my citation, and if so, how? Lead with the database?

1880 U.S. census, Hill County, Texas, agricultural schedule, page 12, Horatio Harris; imaged, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/imageviewer/collections/1276/images/T1134_28-00400 : accessed 11 October 2024).

Submitted byEEon Sat, 10/12/2024 - 09:27

mbcross, because the agricultural schedules are not easily found at that site, without knowing the name of the database in which they appear, EE would definitely include the database name. 

Yes, the URL will take someone directly to the needed page. However, if one single character is lost out of that URL in copy-pasting or in editing (an accident that often happens when we need to manually create an end-of-line soft break in the URL) then the page is not easily locatable without knowing the name of the database.

Also, using the exact URL in lieu of the database name presents a problem when the census entry or group of entries we cite is split over multiple pages. Citing the exact URL for each page would require multiple URLs in the citation. Citing the database title and the database's URL, followed by the path or image number, is often the better option.