Compiled military service records on Fold3

Matthew, there's a serious misunderstanding here. Remember the basic rule: We cite what we use? If we use a record from Fold3, then we don't go to outside catalogs to borrow more details so we can silently beef up our citations to "look more complete" according to some example we see elsewhere.

NARA has billions of records. There are endless collections with almost similar titles. Miniscule differences in the wording between each are significant. If we borrow words from elsewhere, we may be the citing the wrong thing entirely. Therefore:

• If we are at NARA (or any archive), using the physical records, we copy the labels from the files and boxes, exactly as they appear. 
• If we use Fold3 or some other online image provider, we can only cite what we see there.  We can add a discursive note to discuss additional things, if we feel the need. But we cannot silently insert information from elsewhere into the citation itself.
• If the online provider tells us where they got their information, we put that in the last layer of the citation, the “citing ….” layer where we record what the provider cites, which may or may not be accurate.

Copying from a catalog the wording for whatever seems to be the same collection is a sure way to provide misinformation. Copying exact words from someone else's citation to something that other person used is a sure way to provide misinformation. We cite what we use and we attest only what we can verify. If we copy details from elsewhere, our citation needs to make it clear that we are copying someone else’s identification that we have not verified.

EE provides patterns for citing sources. EE tells you and shows you what the essential components are for each type of record. But the specific wording that goes in the field for each component, the specific wording for labels of collections and series and record groups, will vary according to the specific source that you are using. 

Your draft citation chooses to emphasize the record itself in Layer 1 and relegate the website to Layer 2.  That’s fine.  But your Layer 1 identification of what you are using can validly report only what you actually see on the image. That’s all you can verify as accurate: what you actually see in that image.

The following section from EE4’s new chapter 3 “Building a Citation” (specifically § 3.14) is critical:
 

ONLINE ACCESS

Online access to imaged documents requires the use of at least two layers and sometimes three:

• Record Layer: where we identify the original document, as fully as it can be identified from the image itself
• Access Layer: where we identify the website that delivers the images and (often) the specific database through which the images were accessed
• Location Layer (“Citing ...” Layer): where we report the source information as given by the website—a layer we begin with the words “citing ...”

The “Citing ...” Layer is commonly used in one of two circumstances:

• Database citations: When Layer 1 presents all information from the database, including the item of interest, then the “Citing ...” Layer is used to report where the website says it obtained the information or the image.
• Online image citations: Often those images, as filmed, do not completely document the original record. Sometimes, details needed to identify and locate the original source may appear only in the website’s frame for the image, or in a sidebar, or in a separate source discussion. All of that is background information created by the website. It is not part of the original record. It is not information we can verify from the images themselves. When the website’s information tells us that the image came from XYZ, our citation cannot reliably declare that the images come from XYZ. We do not know that from our own firsthand observation. We know only that the website asserts this to be its source. For these reasons, we add a layer to report that the website is “citing ... [thus and such].” We do not inject the website’s information into the layer in which we cite what we actually see in the images.

This page of instruction covers precisely the situation you have with Fold3, but your draft citation omits Layer 3. Instead, it takes the information that should be in the Citing Layer (along with details borrowed from elsewhere that’s not explained) and stuffs it all into Layer 1 as though you were using the original document at NARA

Below is a screenshot of what you are citing:

The sidebar at the left of the screenshot provides the details for the Citing Layer.  Using the image and the sidebar, to accurately report what you are using would require these tweaks:

Layer 1:

Compiled Military Service Record, James M. Whitmire, Pvt., Co. E, 25 North Carolina Infantry, Civil War; Carded Records Showing Military Service of Soldiers Who Fought in Confederate Organizations, compiled 1903 - 1927, documenting the period 1861 – 1865; Record Group 109: War Department Collection of Confederate Records; National Archives, Washington, D.C.;

Layer 2:

imaged, "U.S., Civil War Service Records (CMSR) – Confederate – North Carolina, 1861-1865," Fold3 (https://www.fold3.com/file/43526347/whitmire-james-m-us-civil-war-service-records-cmsr-confederate-north-carolina-1861-1865 : accessed 24 October 2024);

Layer 3:

citing NARA microfilm publication M270, records from NARA catalog ID 586957: Carded Records Showing Military Service of Soldiers Who Fought in Confederate Organization, compiled 1903 – 1927, documenting the period 1861 – 1865, Record Group 109.”

You will also note

• Layer 2 adds the name of the Fold3 database
• Layer 3, the Citing Layer, uses quotation marks around the exact words that are copied from Fold3’s description of the source.

When the three layers are consolidated into one citation, we have this (with coloration to distinguish between the layers):

Compiled Military Service Record, James M. Whitmire, Pvt., Co. E, 25 North Carolina Infantry, Civil War; imaged, "U.S., Civil War Service Records (CMSR) – Confederate – North Carolina, 1861-1865," Fold3 (https://www.fold3.com/file/43526347/whitmire-james-m-us-civil-war-service-records-cmsr-confederate-north-carolina-1861-1865 : accessed 24 October 2024);  citing NARA microfilm publication M270, records from NARA catalog ID 586957: Carded Records Showing Military Service of Soldiers Who Fought in Confederate Organization, compiled 1903 – 1927, documenting the period 1861 – 1865, Record Group 109.”