Western Union Telegram, Original

By Anonymous on Mon, 06/17/2013 - 17:01

Forums

I am fortunate to have inherited many many historical family documents and Evidence Explained (EE) is a fabulous reference I've been turning to regularly.  

 I have a question on how to cite an original Western Union telegram.

My first thought was to use EE 3.35 Letters, Historic but a quick google search showed that: 1. Western Union telegrams were considered legal binding documents in litigation; 2. historians have used Western Union telegrams from collections as supporting documents in various writings.

Thus I wonder if EE 4.5 Corporate and Institutional Records, loose document would be more appropriate.  

Sample citations for these two options. 

Cited as Letter, Historical

Lewis [Boyd E. Buranek], Chicago, Illinois to Mrs. June Buraineh [Buranek], telegram, 5 July 1943. Privately held by Shelley Buranek, [address withheld], Asheville, North Carolina. Telegram passed from June Buranek Suess (1943-2010) upon her death in 2010 to her daughter Shelley Buranek.

 

Cited as Corporate Record Loose Document

 

Lewis [Boyd E. Buranek], Chicago, Illinois to Mrs. June Buraineh [Buranek], Rock Island, Illinois, 5 July 1943, Western Union Telegram, RXCA113 22; Privately held by Shelley C. Buranek [ADDRESS WITHHELD], Asheville, North Carolina. Telegram passed from June Buranek (1943-2010) upon her death in 2010 to her daughter Shelley Buranek. 

 

Or perhaps I am totally off the mark and this falls under yet another category.

Thank you for your reply,

S.B.

 

 

 

Submitted byEEon Mon, 06/17/2013 - 20:42

Interesting question, Shelley!

EE would use the "letter" format. The reasoning is this:

  • Both telegrams and letters are forms of communication.
  • Letters, also, can be accepted into a court of law as valid evidence and historians have long used them as supporting evidence.
  • (Most importantly) a telegram would not be a corporate record unless it was sent or received by the corporation in an official capacity.  Otherwise, Western Union fills the same role as, say, the U.S. Postal Service or FedEx.

EE is also curious: Why are you choosing to construct your full citation in a Source Entry (bibliographic) format rather than the Reference Note format? If you use the Source Entry format, then each telegram or letter that you use for your research would be an individual entry in your source list. Many researchers would choose to create a collection-level citation for the source entry (say, "X Family Papers, Letters and Telegrams, 1865–1965) and then have the reference note identify the specific item within that collection.

Thanks for the kind words about EE as a guide!