Citing sacramental record certificates issued by an archdiocese archives

By Anonymous on Thu, 10/18/2012 - 18:35

Forums

I have sacramental records issued by a church, and I also have certificates issued by the archdiocese's archives, which now hold the church's older registers.

When citing these certificates, do we need to differentiate between certificates issued by the church vs. the archdiocese?  And if we do, is there a preferred method?  I did see the information re: how to cite copies from registers held in an archive, but I did not see similar information re: certificates.

Thank you!

Jenny

Submitted byEEon Sat, 10/20/2012 - 14:06

Jenny, the basic rule here is this: when we cite a record, we identify the creator. If the local church is the creator of the certificate, that's who we cite. If the archdiocesan archives is the creator, we cite the archives.

The difference in treatment between the two would come in the source-of-our-source part of the citation. Typically, a sacramental certificate also carries one or two lines on which the creator identifies the church and the book and page number of the original sacramental act. Therefore:

  • If the church that created the record is creating the certificate, then our source-of-the-source field need only cite the book and page.
  • If church records have been removed to an archives, then our source-of-the-source field would have to identify the original church's name and location, as well as the book and page.