Repository and document name changes

By Emily on Thu, 02/23/2023 - 17:20

Forums

When the name of a repository changes, e.g. from Office of Vital Statistics to Bureau of Vital Statistics to Division of Vital Statistics, etc., should our citation use the repository name on the document or the repository name as it was when we visited or wrote to the repository?

I have a similar question regarding changes of names for vital records; a generic death certificate might be preprinted with terms such as "certificate of death" or "medical certificate of death." Do we use the generic term or the term on the certificate? 

Submitted byEEon Fri, 02/24/2023 - 09:43

Emily, have you seen the discussion at https://www.evidenceexplained.com/node/1974 ?  

Our most basic rule for identifying sources is this: we cite what we using and where we got it.  This means

  • When an agency changed its name after we obtained a record from it, we cite it according to where we got it. We can then add a note saying that agency has changed its name, if we wish.
  • When a document of any type carries specific wording as its title or header, that's what we use. We don't change it to something generic.

As EE 9.30–9.44 discusses, there are significant differences between different types of death certificates. Those differences can make a difference in the reliability of the information. Changing the identity of something to use a 'consistent' generic term will mask important information. Therefore, we cite what we use.