Military Records in a Manuscript Collection

By JeffH13 on Wed, 06/12/2024 - 07:45

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Dear EE,

Several of my ancestor's military records are in a manuscript collection.  Samuel Day was a volunteer.

My source entry is for the collection.  The records are not online; I paid to have photocopies made.  I included the website URL as a help to finding the collection.  Omitting the collection ID (see First Reference Note, below) from the Source List Entry comes from the Library's suggestion for preferred citation and possibly some QuickCheck models from EE 1st ed.

Source List Entry:  "Day, S. MSS 1857-1895". Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington (https://archives.iu.edu/repositories/lilly).

Actually a direct link to the collection is:  https://archives.iu.edu/catalog/InU-Li-VAD6276
I think I included the more general URL as likely more permanent (who knows??)

The collection includes a "diary" (consisting of 24 loose pages), military papers, citizenship certificate, and certificates showing his elections as Justice of the Peace.  So I have source citations to each of these.

My question is this:  

Looking at EE for Military & Pension Records (4th ed.) beginning at 12.27, I see including the soldier's rank, unit, and war are essential to finding the records.  Since the way to find *my* documents is through the manuscript collection at the university, should I include the soldier's information in my source citation?  And, should I include it for each of the military documents (discharge cert., window's pension, etc)?

First Reference Note: Samuel Day (1st Sgt. 8th Indiana Battery, Civil War), Volunteer Descriptive List (1864); collection ID LMC 1262: "Day, S. MSS 1857-1895"; Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington (https://archives.iu.edu/repositories/lilly). Photocopies provided by library staff, 2024.

For some reason, I picked up on putting the info in parentheses looking at the Pension examples at 12.35, but I see the examples for the other types of documents don't do that.

I've attached the example document.

Thank you,
Jeff Hodge


 

Upload a document
Samuel Day Vol Desc List.jpg

Submitted byEEon Thu, 06/13/2024 - 10:25

Hello, Jeff.

To begin with basics:

  • You’re citing a manuscript from a collection in an archive.
  • That manuscript is not online.
  • Materials in an archive are cited according to the way that particular archive organizes it.
  • You do not have a military file from the National Archives, therefore Chapter 12, which focuses upon the National Archives, is not relevant to this document.

The records you are using are covered by Chapter 4, Archives and Artifacts.  More specifically: 4.12 “Basic Pattern: Documents.” The models there are cross-referenced to Template 8 “Formal Archives (Artifact or Manuscript Document).”  The building blocks, to be used when relevant, are these:

Layer 1:

  • Author/Creator
  • Title/label of document
  • Date of document
  • Descriptor for document
  • Specific item within the document

Layer 2: Title (of folder)

Layer 3: Title (of collection)

Layer 4: Place of access =  Library and Locale.

In the case at hand:

  • You have provided an image of the document, which is a form from an unspecified government agency; hence, there is no author to cite.
  • The document is titled “Volunteer Descriptive List and Account of Pay and Clothing of 1st Sgt. Samuel Day.”
  • The date of the document is 6 October 1866.
  • No descriptor is needed, unless you want to add here the place where the document was created.
  • You do not identify a file. You link to online library cataloging data for this collection, which states that it consists of only one folder; hence, no folder name or file name is needed.
  • You identify the collection as LMC 1262: “Day, S. MSS 1857-1895.”  However, the library identifies it as Day, S. mss., 1857-1895.  There is subtle but significant difference here that needs to be noticed and reproduced when copying something exactly. Note that the abbreviation is not written as MSS 1857-1895.   MSS 1857–1895" (with MSS in all caps) would say that you are using a manuscript collection formally numbered MSS 1857-1895. The lower-case mss is a generic descriptor.  You are using a manuscript collection numbered LMC 1262. That collection’s name is then stated as: Last name, First initial, descriptor stating type of record(s), span of years.
  • You identify the library, the university where it is housed, and the city/state where located. That is all appropriate.

Assembled, your First Reference Note citation (with coloration to distinguish the three layers) would be this:

      1. “Volunteer Descriptive List and Account of Pay and Clothing of 1st Sgt. Samuel Day,” 6 October 1866; collection LMC 1262: “Day, S. mss, 1857–1895”; Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

The citation does not use a URL.  The document is not online. You’ve had to obtain the document from the library, either in person or by mail.  If you wish to cite the online cataloging data for this collection, that would be done in a separate citation sentence, because it’s a separate citation to a separate source. For example:

      2. Indiana University, Archives Online (https://archives.iu.edu/catalog/InU-Li-VAD6276 : accessed 13 June 2024), catalog entry for “Day, S. mss, 1857–1895.”

The two citations to the two separate sources may be placed into the same reference note:

     1. . “Volunteer Descriptive List and Account of Pay and Clothing of 1st Sgt. Samuel Day,” 6 October 1866; collection LMC 1262: “Day, S. mss, 1857–1895”; Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.  For further details on this collection, see Indiana University, Archives Online (https://archives.iu.edu/catalog/InU-Li-VAD6276 : accessed 13 June 2024), catalog entry for “Day, S. mss, 1857–1895.”

Submitted byEEon Fri, 06/14/2024 - 09:29

JeffH13, here at EE we don't think in terms of "corrections." They are learning opportunities—and bits of knowledge that will help us in future work. :)