Probate file on New Zealand Archives website

By Obsessed_Genie on Sun, 11/02/2025 - 18:46

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Hi,

I'm trying to create a citation for a probate file that has been digitized and is available online on the New Zealand Archives website. I've been looking at Template 10 Online Image (No named database) and section 4.15 of EE 4th ed. (the Online Images: Emphasis of Document section), and I'm a bit unsure whether the archive details (such as record number, item code and series number) belong in Layer 1 (where I have placed them) or layer three, about the Archive itself.

Here is what I have created:

David Caro, probate file, will dated 23 March 1886, proved 1891, record number CH2088/1891, item code R22385758, series code 2989; imaged, Archives New Zealand (https://www.archives.govt.nz/ : accessed 3 November 2025; citing Archives New Zealand, Christchurch Repository.

Guidance on this would be much appreciated

Submitted byEEon Mon, 11/03/2025 - 09:23

Hello, Obsessed.

You state, I'm a bit unsure whether the archive details (such as record number, item code and series number) belong in Layer 1 (where I have placed them) or Layer 3, about the Archive itself.

To answer this, ask yourself a question: Where did I get that info about the record number, item code, and series number?  

  • Did you go to the archive and use the record yourself, at which point you saw for yourself exactly what numbers and codes were on the box or folder that held the record?
  • Did you get that information from the website—from a sidebar or a frame around the image?

When we identify an image we find online and we want to lead our citation with a description or identification of that image, then that layer of the citation reports only what we see in the image. We cannot verify any other details, for ourselves. Anything else we get from the website's description goes in the layer in which we report what the website is saying that it used thus-and-such.

You'll find this covered in EE4 at 3.14 under "Online Access."  If you have Stripped Bare, it's at p. 76.

Submitted byObsessed_Genieon Mon, 11/03/2025 - 15:45

Hi,

To let you know where I found the information. I went to the NZ Archives website (which is where I found the image). I put the person's name (David Caro) in the 'Search collections' bar on the home page. That gave me 10 results. I clicked on the result I was interested in which took me to a screen with more information, including the Record number and item ID (see image). I then clicked on the link associated with the 'View online' information. That took me to the digital version of the probate file (as far as I can find, this is the only route to access that file). The side bar for that also included the item code, and also included the series. The record number is written on the will wrapper. So all that information comes from the way I access it online.

I have not personally been into that archive.

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