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I've drafted the following citations for Italian vital records I received via e-mail, one from a State Archive and one from an individual that offers a Record Retrieval Service, and would appreciate EE's insight. For the first layer, I followed Template 12 (birth or death certificate) as a guide, followed by an access layer, and a final citing layer for the repository. Looking forward to feedback!
Death Record received via e-mail from Record Retrieval Service
Mendicino, Cosenza, Atti di Morte no. 54, Luigi Naccarato of Pasquale, died 14 September 1941, recorded 15 November 1941; digital image supplied 13 June 2025 by Retriever Name, City, State to My Name, My Address, City, State; citing Comune di Mendicino.
- Context/Question: The record retriever contacted the comune (town) of Mendicino directly for the record. Given this, Mendicino is the Creator of the record itself and the repository. Is it duplicative then to have the same town name in the citing layer?
Marriage Record received via e-mail from State Archive
Sepino, Campobasso, Atti di Matrimonio no. 34, Nicolamaria Sanzò and Angiolina Sanzò, married 9 October 1919; digital image supplied 30 January 2025 by Archivio di Stato di Campobasso, Campobasso, Italy, to My Name, My Address, City, State; citing Archivio di Stato di Campobasso, “Stato civile dei comuni della provincia di Campobasso (1809-1957).”
- Context: The State Archives preserve second copies of birth, marriage, and death records produced by town offices (town offices kept one copy, and sent a second copy to the archive). Given this, the creator of the original record is the town of Sepino itself. On the archive's website, it states that they hold these in a collection titled, “Stato civile dei comuni della provincia di Campobasso (1809-1957)," so that's why I added that in the citing layer.
Good morning, Maritalia, …
Good morning, Maritalia,
You've done well with both documents—and with researching the creation and archiving of the record types you are using. I'd offer just one thought with each, both focusing on the citing ... layer (aka source-of-the-source layer).
Death Record: As you say, the citing layer merely duplicates what has already been said. The only reason to repeat it would be to say "citing only 'Comune di Mendicino'," as in situations where we know or suspect that these were in volumes or series that should have been cited also by our supplier.
Marriage Record: If we obtain a record from one source or channel and supplemental research provides additional information about that source, we often do want to record that additional information. However, an Evidence Style citation would also cite the specific webpage where that additional information came from. The cleanest way to do this would be to drop the "citing" layer and add a separate sentence to say "The archive's website (http://www. .... : 18 November 2025) states [etc.], as per the last sentence in your context paragraph.