Correct Source List Entry?

Hello, Ron.  We have several issues to unpack here.  Let’s start with your para. 6:

The question is if I don’t show the series “Pennsylvania, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1845-1963” in the Source List Entry and First Reference Note, how could I find the “Marriage License Docket” registration book if I were someone trying to find the record for the first time.

Your question strikes to the heart of the most basic issue: When we use imaged documents by online providers, we have two separate things to cite:

• The actual record;
• The database and website that provides the image.

Typically, we handle this by creating a citation with two “layers.”

• Layer 1: we present all the details visible in the images that identify the original document, following the basic pattern for that type of record. You have correctly identified 9.4 as a format to follow.

• Layer 2: we identify the online provider, using the basic format for website databases (which is the same format for chapters in a book):  Creator of Database/Chapter (If Named), “Title of Database/Chapter,” Creator of Website/Editor of Book, Title of Website or Book (Publication place = URL : date), specific place.

Therefore,

• when your question uses the phrase “Pennsylvania U.S., County Marriage Records, 1845–1963,” you are referring to an entity created by Ancestry.com—specifically a “collection” title.
• When your question refers to “Marriage License Docket,” you are referring to an entity created by Allegheny County, Pennsylvania’s government agencies.

In para. 7, you state:

I tried to find the “Marriage License Docket” book using Ancestry’s catalog but could not find it.

You won’t find it. Ancestry’s catalog lists its own “collections.” It does not list every item within that collection. Again, this harks back to the core issue above:  observing the distinction between (a) the original record and (b) the entities created by the website.

QuickLesson 26 “Thinking through Ancestry.com Citations” covers this in much more detail.  After reading it, I suspect you’ll understand better the citation you’re trying to craft. If you’re still uncertain, post a followup with your draft citations and we can discuss the specifics.

You also question the meaning of the term “series.” I’m going to treat that in a separate post.

The meaning(s) of the word “series”

Ron, in your para. 9, you wrote:

I also don’t understand the difference between the “Series” wording for the Source List Entry on page 425 and “Specific Volume” wording on p. 426. Is it because one is for a certificate and the other is for a registration?

No.  For grounding here, let’s go back to the basics laid out in chapters 2 and 3:

• 2.74 “A manuscript typically exists in a collection that is part of a series that is in turn part of a record group … “
• 3.1 “Large record groups are typically broken down into subgroups—often called ... series, ... or a similar term. …

When we walk into a courthouse's record room (an archive), we will find hundreds or thousands of volumes. Logistically, they are divided into generic series. There will be a deed series, a mortgage series, a marriage series, a probate series, etc. 

Within that series, there may be bound registers (as with the QuickCheck model on p. 426) or there may be packets of loose papers (as with the QuickCheck model on p. 425).

Within each bound series, the volumes will typically be numbered. Each series uses the same set of numbers.  We can find a Deed Book 55 and a Will Book 55 and a Marriage Book 55.  Therefore our citations will specify both the series name and the number.

Within bound series, individual volumes may carry a specific title rather than just the generic series name and number. The QuickCheck Model on p. 426 illustrates this.

After the QuickCheck Models at the beginning of Chapter 9, the discussions for specific record types are more detailed. For example, 9.34 County-level Registrations has two examples for original records:

• Ottawa County, Ohio, Record of Births, vol. 1 …  (i.e., citing series name and number)
• Pendleton County, Kentucky, “Births, 1851–1859”…  (i.e., citing specific title because there is no generic series called “Births” in which individual volumes are labeled 1, 2, …. 55, 56, etc

Note that quotation marks are used when we cite the specific title of a manuscript volume, because we are quoting exact words. Quotation marks are not used when we cite a series by generic name and number.

In some cases, as with the Allegheny County register you are trying to cite, there is a generic series name and volume number, but the title on the volume is more complicated than that. In those cases—when our image provider actually images the cover of the volume—it is wise to copy exactly what is on the cover of the volume and put it in quotation marks.