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I am currently working on a project that uses a number of vital records posted on the NYC Historical Vital Records website. I have gone over and over the posting from 11/9/2024, https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/search and I have a question. I created my own template when the website came out, where I used a different website name. But given the URL, and after having studied the blog post, I agree that the website name is actually Historical Vital Records: The New York City Municipal Archives.
The main question I have with the recommended citation, is what is the database name? There is now a new page at https://data.cityofnewyork.us/browse?Data-Collection_Data-Collection=NYC+Historical+Vital+Records&sortBy=relevance&pageSize=20&page=1 (you need to include the info after the question mark) which would seem to indicate that the name could be "NYC Historical Vital Records Data Collection," or perhaps (from the top of any imaged page), "Digital Vital Records."
I am puzzled by layer 2 of the suggested EE citation, since it does not include a database name:
NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records: The New York City Municipal Archives, database with images (https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/view/5179597 : viewed 9 November 2024).
I typically emphasize the database, so would the following work? It also cites details from the original certificate rather than the digitized record number.
NYC Department of Records & Information Services [DORIS], "NYC Historical Vital Records Data Collection," database with images, Historical Vital Records: The New York City Municipal Archives (https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/view/1119360 : accessed 25 August 2026); certificate 9576 (1899), Rebecca Marcus, born 3 March 1899; citing Manhattan Births, New York City Municipal Archives, New York, New York.
Thanks in advance for any clarification.
Hello canadagenes: As a…
Hello canadagenes:
As a foundation for our readers, this subject (regardless of locale) is discussed in much fuller detail at EE4 §11.30 City Registrations & Non-Standard Certificates. Particularly the section “Online Database or Index.”
You point to a prior discussion dealing with this NYC database, launched here by Hendrickson on 11/9/2024, which our readers can find at https://www.evidenceexplained.com/node/2335. There, the finished EE citation to this specific NYC website/database is this:
Brooklyn Borough, New York, death certificate no. 2788, Phoebe Williams Hendrickson, 31 January 1918; NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records: The New York City Municipal Archives, database with images (https://a860 historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/view/5179597 : viewed 9 November 2024); citing file no. D-K-1918-0002788.
Above, each color represents a different layer of the citation.
You state:
“I am puzzled by layer 2 of the suggested EE citation, since it does not include a database name.”
There is no need for a separate database name in this citation; and, more broadly, not all websites have individual databases. The cited webpage “Historical Vital Records: The New York City Municipal Archives” is both a standalone entity and a database.
The first layer of you draft citation does include a database title (which I've colored red):
NYC Department of Records & Information Services [DORIS], "NYC Historical Vital Records Data Collection," database with images, Historical Vital Records: The New York City Municipal Archives (https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/view/1119360 : accessed 25 August 2026);
However, when we go to that cited page ...
... we don’t see that set of words anywhere on the page. (Nor does it appear on any of the alternate images below.) It’s not clear where you found that set of words as a potential database title.
CHOOSING A SUB-ORDNATE WEBSITE AT A COMPLEX WEBSITE:
This Historical Vital Records website is actually a part of a much more complex website. We have a choice to make as to what starting point we want to use. As the website is currently structured, the home page is this: NYC (https://www.nyc.gov)
BUT, if we choose to start at this top-level hierarchy, note two things:
Given that this page gives us a menu of modules to choose from, we might—through trial and error in each module—eventually work our way down to the departmental website:
Again, we have no database title on this page. We have menu options. If we choose “Historical Records” from the menu, that takes us to yet another page:
Here, we have to choose yet another option “Historical Vital Records NYC” (which also is not a database title—it’s only a menu option) to get us to where we need to go. And again, this would be one waypoint on the path we'd have to cite.
THEREFORE:
The simplest approach is cite directly to the subordinate website for the specific department and its Historical Vital Records.
Once we start our citation with this subordinate website, then the Specific Item Field of our citation to the site would do one of two things: (1) cite the search terms that generated the specific certificate; or (2) cite the certificate. This leads to another issue.
ANOTHER LEVEL 2 ISSUE:
Again as background for our readers: We use layered citations when citing a document or previously published source that is reimaged at a website. Our Layers 1 and 2 are mix-and-match. We have a choice of what we want to emphasize in Layer 1 versus what we relegate to second place in Layer 2.
Your preference is fine. It’s also the one I typically use. However, in a layered citation, each layer should represent a full identification of a specific source. If we allot a layer to a document, that layer should include all essential details for that document. Likewise, the layer in which we cite the website/database also has to include all essential details. As presented, your Layer 2 is incomplete:
Layer 1: NYC Department of Records & Information Services [DORIS], "NYC Historical Vital Records Data Collection," database with images, Historical Vital Records: The New York City Municipal Archives (https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/view/1119360 : accessed 25 August 2026);
Layer 2: certificate 9576 (1899), Rebecca Marcus, born 3 March 1899;
If someone told us that their information came from “certificate 9576 (1899), Rebecca Marcus, born 3 March 1899,” would that be all the information we need to identify the source of their information? No.
In both EE’s 4th edition and in our “backpack edition” Stripped Bare, Chapter 3 (Building a Citation), §3.12–3.17, discusses the structuring of citation layers. In part, it says:
3.17 “The Rule That Has No Exception.”
The mix-and-match nature of citations to online images has one cardinal rule: Details that describe one entity must not be attached to a different entity. …
If we choose Emphasis on Record, then all details we use to describe the original record stay together in Layer 1, while all details that identify the website or database stay in Layer 2. …
If we choose Emphasis on Database, the [details of the imaged record are placed] within the Specific Item Block. … All information about the imaged record appears together at this spot.
(As a refresher for readers who need it: when we cite a document or a published source, the Specific Item Field is where we cite the page, map, chart, figure, image, etc.—whatever is needed to point to the specific item within the larger entity.)
Therefore, if you emphasize the NYC website/database, with the birth certificate itself playing second fiddle, the partial data you have for your certificate goes in the Specific Item block. It is preceded by a comma, because a comma is used to separate each field within the same layer. It is followed by a semi-colon to mark the end of that layer.
NYC Department of Records & Information Services [DORIS], Historical Vital Records: The New York City Municipal Archives, database with images (https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/view/1119360 : accessed 25 August 2026), Manhattan certificate 9576 (1899), Rebecca Marcus, born 3 March 1899; citing New York City Municipal Archives, New York, New York.
The end result is two layers. The first identifies the website/database and what you found there. The second reports the location of the record as cited by the website/database. Some might consider the second layer in this case to be redundant, given that it repeats the title of the website. On the other hand, including it removes all doubt as to the location of the images that the website presents.