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As there are more than one loosely-termed "National Archives" in the world, what would the appropriate citation be where the Website Source has not specified which National Archives the record was found in, nor have they provided page or document #'s, etc?
Would it be appropriate to contact the webmaster and ask them for additional information? If they provided this directly via e-mail, how would this be handled in the citation? Would it be acceptable for me to also attempt to locate this information in the various National Archives myself, and include my findings as a square-bracketed Note in the Citation?
Eliz Stewart,
Eliz Stewart,
You are right that citations to "National Archives" should make it clear what country is referenced. As a basic rule, any time we cite any archives, we should cite its location. EE provides many such models for the U.S., UK, Canada, France, etc.
As users of an inadequate citation, yes, we should indeed attempt to locate the cited record. The content of the information within the cited document should help to narrow the possibilities. Also, if we have some experience with the various archives, we should be able to distinguish between several countries by even a minimal identification of the document, because various countries use different styles. (Again, the model citations in EE would help.)
If you are citing another author's work, whose citation is incomplete, your citation (of course) would be to that other author's work. To that, you would add that the other author is "citing ...." That author's citation would typically be copied exactly (quoted) and placed in quotation marks. In that case, yes, when you add the location of the archives, you could place your addition in square editorial brackets, in the proper place within the quotation.
If, as you suggest, you contact the author and the person responds by e-mail, then another approach would be to create a standard citation, with the author's "citing ...." in quotation marks; then add your own separate statement that the author has provided additional location data by e-mail. In that situation, however, you would have to cite the e-mail. That would add another layer of complexity to the citation.