Old Parish Registers - Scotland

By RobynR on Sat, 01/26/2019 - 04:06

Forums

Dear Editor,

I have read EE 7.43 and have generally used your citation example for the OPR's when I have purchased and downloaded a copy of the church register record from the ScotlandsPeople website (https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) - maintained by the National Records of Scotland.  

tweaked slightly from 7.43 :

First Reference Note:

Ceres Parish (Fife, Scotland), Old Parish Registers, OPR 415/2, page 299, Elspeth Band, baptised 1 April 1744; National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Subsequent Note:

Ceres Parish (Fife), OPR 415/2, p. 299, Elspeth Band, bapt. 1 April 1744.

My question is, I have been thinking that perhaps the citations for these records may need another layer? The reason I ask, is that the same information can be basically found in the https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) indexes and I cannot decide whether the citation above indicates that I have actually "looked" at the register.

A revision with a layer that I have come up with is:

Ceres Parish (Fife, Scotland), Old Parish Registers, OPR 415/2, page 299, Elspeth Band, baptised 1 April 1744; digital image, ScotlandsPeople (https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk : accessed 26 January 2019); National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Thank you in advance and I Iook forward to your comments in due course.

From RobynR, down-under in sweltering heat :-)

 

Submitted byEEon Sat, 01/26/2019 - 09:51

RobynR, you've done well. As background for our readers: EE 7.43 has examples for the OPR records in three versions:

  • the originals
  • the microfilmed registers
  • the ScotlandsPeople database

EE, as you’ve noted, doesn’t have an example for original images used at ScotlandsPeople. That, of course, harks back to the basic problem that EE, if it attempted to provide models for every type of source, everywhere, in every form that it might be rendered, would be the size of the OED!

What to do in such cases is just what you've done. As the QuickStart Guide shows: EE formats are like Lego blocks that can be mixed and matched and plugged together in various combinations, to fit whatever type of source we find.  Citing the originals imaged at ScotlandsPeople would call for (a) using the format for the original registers to create Layer 1; and (b) using the format for identifying a website to create Layer 2. 

Submitted byRobynRon Sat, 01/26/2019 - 15:48

I can see I will need revisit and re tweak my citations for images purchased at ScotlandsPeople.

Many thanks for your feedback, it is most appreciated.

Submitted byRobynRon Sun, 01/27/2019 - 05:02

Dear Editor and for any readers interested,

I have now decided to use following revised citation, as I think it ticks all the boxes and that my source information will be clearer to anyone I send a report to. 

Kemback Parish (Fife, Scotland), Old Parish Registers, OPR 433/1, p. 91, Janet Watson, baptised 1 December 1771; digital image, National Records of Scotland, ScotlandsPeople (https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ : accessed 10 June 2018).

Thanks again for taking the time to comment on my post :-)