Marriage Records held as Loose Papers: Copies

By Anonymous on Mon, 10/27/2014 - 12:54

Forums

Marriage License Applications and Returns for the 1890s for Rutherford County, North Carolina are held as loose records. The original records do not contain an identifying number. They are held in file drawers organized by year, in file folders by first letter of the groom’s last name, then alphabetically within each folder. In 2002, the Genealogical Society of Old Tryon County photocopied the original records, and holds their copies in file cabinets organized in the same manner as that used by the County for the originals.

Following the rule to “cite what you use,” I need to cite the photocopy held by the Society. My question is whether I need to go into detail in my citation about the organization of the records, since there is no identifying number to make them unique?

My proposed citation is:

Rutherford County, North Carolina, Marriage Licenses and Returns, no record number, Edward Groom and Sarah Bride, 1894; photocopy of original loose record held by Genealogical Society of Old Tryon County, Forest City, North Carolina.

The examples given in EE 9.5 each have an identifying number, which these records do not include. EE 2.4 says that one of the purposes of a source citation is to record the specific location of each piece of data. Have I met that criterion adequately? If not, how can I construct a better description of the specific location of the record?

Thanks

Tom

Submitted byEEon Mon, 10/27/2014 - 15:08

Tom,

For certain, we all wish that every record came nicely numbered but all too often they don't and we're left to identify what we have, as best we can.

In your case, there's something more that you well explain to us but don't incorporate into your  citation. If, say, I were to read your citation without the background you provided, I'd be left wondering two things:

  • Where at GSOTC this document can be found. What collection, etc.? As a rule of thumb for citing loose documents, any citation to a loose document is automatically followed by an ID of the folder, collection, series, record group, etc., using whatever system the repository has in place.)
  • Does "photocopy of original loose record held by GSOTC" mean that GSOTC holds the original loose records or that GSOTC holds a set of photocopies made of original loose records held elsewhere? If the latter, then what is GSOTC's source-of-the-source?

 

Submitted bytmphelpson Mon, 10/27/2014 - 21:13

Okay, that makes sense. I was uncomfortable with what I had earlier, because it seemed to fail the "find it again" test. Let's try again:

Rutherford County, North Carolina, Marriage Licenses and Returns, no record number, Edward Groom and Sarah Bride, 1894; Rutherford County Marriage Records collection, photocopies of original loose records, filed by year and groom's name, Genealogical Society of Old Tryon County, Forest City, North Carolina.

Is this better?

Thanks,

Tom

Submitted byEEon Wed, 10/29/2014 - 10:47

Indeed, Tom. One last question: How, within the collection you named, would one find this record, given that you say it is unnumbered? Are the photocopies in files according to year? Are they in files arranged by surname? Or ... ?

Submitted bytmphelpson Wed, 10/29/2014 - 14:58

Here is a more detailed version:

Rutherford County, North Carolina, Marriage Licenses and Returns, no record number, Edward Groom and Sarah Bride, 1894; Rutherford County Marriage Records collection, photocopies of original loose records, grouped into folders by year and first letter of groom's surname, then filed alphabetically by groom's surname within each folder, Genealogical Society of Old Tryon County, Forest City, North Carolina.

Thanks,

Tom

Submitted byEEon Wed, 10/29/2014 - 17:08

So one has to know the name of the groom in order to find the record? Interesting arrangement for a collection presumably created in "modern times."

The collection is set up to mirror the way the records are filed at the County courthouse (at least according to the folks at the GSOTC). The one thing GSOTC has done is to create an index by groom and a separate index by bride so that one can look up the name(s) you may be looking for. The index provides the date of the marriage and both names, so it becomes fairly straightforward to then find the particular record you are seeking.