Using of "citing"

By Anonymous on Mon, 05/09/2016 - 01:55

Forums

I've had an extraordinary difficulty putting together a citation for what seemed to be a fairly straighforward source.

The 1889 census for Washington Territory is available through Ancestry or the Washington State Digital Archives.  The providers provide images from two different filmings of the original records. For a variety of reasons I chose to cite the database (not the images).

The providers give these source citations:

Ancestry: Original data: Washington. WashingtonTerritorial Census Rolls, 1857-1892. Olympia, Washington: Washington State Archives. M1, 20 rolls.

Washington State: Source: Washington Territorial county census microfilm [microform]. Olympia: Washington State Library, [2003] 35 microfilm reels; 35 mm.

My citations are:

“Washington State and Territorial Censuses, 1857-1892,” database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 May 2016), Ward 4, Seattle, King County, 29 Jun 1889, entry for Saml [Samuel] Hepler; citing Washington Territorial Census Rolls, 1857-1892, microfilm publication, 20 reels (Olympia : Washington State Archives, n.d. [1987]).  The Ancestry citation lists the microfilm as publication “M1”; that number does not appear to be from the Washington State Archives.

“1889 King County Census,” database, Washington Secretary of State, Washington State Digital Archives (http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/ : accessed 7 May 2016), 4th Ward [Seattle], King County, entry for Saml [Samuel] Hepler; citing Washington Territorial county census microfilm, 35 reels (Olympia : Washington State Library, 2003).

 As you can see, the information after "citing" isn't verbatim from the providers.  Is it ever acceptable to reword as I've done, or should I have reproduced the information verbatim?

Brian     

Submitted byEEon Mon, 05/09/2016 - 11:27

Brian, you've done exactly what you should. If you had copied the provider's data verbatim, then you would have put quotes around the entire passage you copied. Typyically, when we cite the source-of-our-source, we have three situations:

  1. Our source provides a clear and concise citation—in which case, we quote them exactly.
  2. Some record providers do not provide enough data—in which case, it is again best to quote the provider exactly.
  3. Others (such as this particular provider) offer more information than what one would normally put into a citation. Or (as with this provider also) they arrange the data in a garbled fashion. Or (as with this provider) they cite the data in a bibliographic or pseudo-bibliographic form with many internal periods that you would not use in a ref note citation to a single source.  In such cases, the analytical researcher will sort through all the pieces of data offered by the provider and create a logical citation, as you have done. The bonus for making that effort is that they will understand their source better than they would have if they had simply copied the whole schmere given them by the provider and not thoughtfully considered the parts.

In all three cases, we still use the word "citing" as an alert that the citation details that follow are details provided by our own source. However, the use of the word "citing" does not require us to quote exactly.

Submitted byBrian Gon Mon, 05/09/2016 - 16:47

Thank you!  I'd hoped I was on the right track.  Reproducing the pseudo-bibligraphy citations made for a messy and confusing citation.

Now, on to the harder battle!  The Washington Archives tells me (via email) they used the 2003 microfilm for the 1889 census of King County yet the Washington Library (via email) claims that King County, 1889 is *not* on that microfilm?!  The library suggested the archives used the 1987 filming.  Unfortunately for that theory, the image on Ancestry which apparently was from the 1987 filming is completely different than the image from the Washington Archives.

At this point, it would have been faster to jump in the car, cross several states to the King County Archives and pay a visit to the originals!  My citations would have been easier also!

Sigh.  Time to re-read "Do You Just Trust Citations Offered by Digital Providers..."

Thanks again,

Brian