ScotlandsPeople.com - Wills and testaments

The "Wills and testaments" collection of the ScotlandsPeople site is a bit unusual. The viewable material is typically the content of a "probate-like" package. That package can contain many submissions; each with its own submission date. The search results do show the overall "confirmation" date, which is effectively the date when the legal process ended and one can use the year portion in a search. However; the confirmation date, or even just the year, is not typically visible anywhere in the package materials.

In constructing a citation, would one still use the confirmation date from the search, as that is how one can relocate the package on the site?

Submitted byEEon Tue, 06/25/2024 - 08:29

History-Hunter, issues like this are why we have layered citations for documents imaged online. The document layer provides all the needed details for the original record: the specific document, its collection, its record group, its archive, and the archive's locale. The online provider layer provides the needed details to locate the material at the online site.