Document Title for Ship's Passenger Lists

By Mike Bartholomew on Tue, 01/04/2022 - 14:02

Forums

I am struggling with identifying the appropriate document title for some passenger lists. I have searched through this forum and found several excellent posts to creating citations for ship's passenger lists. The following post states that the title of the record is the one printed at the top of the page in big type:

https://www.evidenceexplained.com/node/1624

The heading identified is “List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the U.S. Immigration Officer at Port of Arrival”. To me, the above is a very clear document title.

I have several passenger lists at points of arrival in Canada dated from the period 1902 to 1907. The title at the top of the first page of each list is "Schedule A". Below it are two sub-titles also in large type but slightly smaller than the one at the top - "Particulars Relative to the Vessel" and "Names and Descriptions of Passengers". Under the heading for the vessel are its name, the departure and arrival ports, but no departure or arrival dates. Below the heading for passengers are column headings for information regarding passenger name, age, profession, etc. The travel dates are found on a summary on the last page of the document. Also, this list is unpaginated. The simple title by itself, "Schedule A" does not seem to be sufficient, and listing it along with the two sub-headings doesn't seem to make much sense. My inclination is to use the following for the footnote:

"Schedule A ... Names and Descriptions of Passengers", SS Tunisian, unpaginated, 1st p. (Liverpool to Halifax, N.S.), summary 12th p. (departed 21 November 1902, arrived 28 November 1902), 3rd p., line 107 (Anders Hansen); imaged in "Passenger Lists, 1865-1922", browsable images, Library and Archives Canada, (https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/passenger-lists/passenger-lists-1865-1922/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=10556& : downloaded 1 January 2022), images 1, 3 and 12 of 12; citing LAC microfilm reel T-492, list 107, RG76, item 10556.

Does this seem to be a reasonable way to treat the title? Or would it make sense to eliminate the title and start with, SS Tunisian Passenger List?

 

Submitted byEEon Tue, 01/04/2022 - 16:11

Mike, you've done well. EE  tinker's are minor:

"Schedule A ... Names and Descriptions of Passengers", SS Tunisian, unpaginated, 3rd p., line 107 (Anders Hansen), also 1st p. for locations (Liverpool to Halifax, N.S.), and 12th p. "Summary" for dates (departed 21 November 1902, arrived 28 November 1902); imaged in "Passenger Lists, 1865-1922", browsable images, Library and Archives Canada, (https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/passenger-lists/passenger-lists-1865-1922/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=10556& : downloaded 1 January 2022), images 1, 3 and 12 of 12; citing LAC microfilm reel T-492, list 107, RG76, item 10556.

Explanations:

  • After identifying the list and saying that it is unpaginated, you list three pages (by count): first the page for the locations, then the page for the dates, then the page for the person. EE would be inclined to cite the page for the person first, then add that the locations and dates are found on pp. such-and-such. 
  • Between the title and the parenthetical data that says where the title is published, you should drop the comma. Remember: parenthetical data is an explanation of what comes before it, while a comma is intended to splice what comes after from what comes before. Where the parentheses means that the info that comes before and after should stay together, the comma then separates the two.  One punctuation mark cancels out the other.

Submitted byMike Bartholomewon Tue, 01/04/2022 - 22:58

Thank you for the comments. The document title being nondescript is only one of the problems with this citation. The others are no page numbering, and some of the main source information is found on multiple pages. It was my intent that the source be the title of the document plus the ship name and the departure and arrival locations and dates. Then the item of interest for the citation would be the passenger. I wonder if the following might be better for keeping the source information closer together:

"Schedule A ... Names and Descriptions of Passengers", SS Tunisian, departed Liverpool 21 November 1902, arrived Halifax, N.S. 28 November 1902, unpaginated, 3rd p., line 107, entry for Anders Hansen, also 1st p. for locations, and 12th p. "Summary" for dates; imaged in "Passenger Lists, 1865-1922", browsable images, Library and Archives Canada (https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/passenger-lists/passenger-lists-1865-1922/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=10556& : downloaded 1 January 2022), images 1, 3 and 12 of 12; citing LAC microfilm reel T-492, list 107, RG76, item 10556.