Civil War Pension Files on the website of the Genealogy Center, Allen County Public Library

By Emily on Wed, 10/23/2024 - 17:47

Forums

Dear EE,

I am unsure about how to cite a document from a pension file imaged at the Genealogy Center of the Allen County Public Library. The first image in the file shows that I ordered the pension file from the National Archives. Is that equivalen to citing NARA as the source of the original records? Also, the waypoint punctuation used by the website are >> rather than >. Am I correct in thinking that we should use the same punctuation as used by the website? The website does not explicitly state how many images there are in the file; the document of interest starts with the fourth image. I could cite my paper copy of the file, but think that citing the online image might be helpful to others. Here is my attempt at a citation:

Deposition A, pg. 6-9, Affidavit of claimant, 19 February 1880, Christina J. Barton, application no. 267,487, Widow’s Certificate (W.C.) no. 267, 634, service of Alfred Barton, private, Co. K, 10th Indiana Cavalry, Civil War; imaged, Allen County Public Library: Genealogy Center  (https://www.genealogycenter.info/military/civilwar/viewpage_alfredbarton.php?realpage=20&display=Barton_Alfred_0004 : accessed 23 October 2024) >>Free Databases>>Our Military Heritage>>Civil War>>Individuals>> Barton, Alfred, 10th Indiana Cavalry, images 4-7; original documents in Series “Case Files of Approved Pension Applications of Widows and Other Dependents of the Army and Navy Who Served Mainly in the Civil War and the War with Spain, 1861-1934,” Record Group 15: Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Please critique it. I welcome your advice.

Submitted byEEon Sun, 10/27/2024 - 11:33

Emily, normally when we cite something we’ve ordered from NARA, we cite NARA, not some unrelated website. In this case, given that you allowed ACPL to image the file sent to you, that online access makes the file readily available to many researchers. Therefore, we can understand why you might want to cite ACPL. 

From that perspective, your citation works, although EE would make two tweaks:

  1. The title of the ACPL website needs to be in italics because it is a standalone publication
  2. One path sign < is the standard, not two <<. 

From an evidentiary standpoint, there is another serious consideration. ACPL has imaged a file you contributed, rather than the actual file at NARA. That means the chain of custody or authority has been broken. No user can rest assured that all of the file is there. A less trustworthy person, one who found a document therein that disproved what s/he wanted to prove, might pull that document and then contribute only the records that did not sabotage his/her argument. 

From this evidentiary standpoint, EE would add a sentence to explain the situation. Provenance and chains of custody are something all researchers have to consider with every document.