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From: Jerry Fitzpatrick <>
Subject: RE: [APG] A Dumb Question
Date: Sat, 01 Feb 2003 08:28:56 -0600
In-Reply-To: <00f101c2c9af$a434aad0$a52e2644@1pka7>


I appreciate the wonderful explanations from you, Donn, and Mary. (I'm sure future
editions of Evidence! will include *everything* about genealogy! <g>)

As a follow-up, is there a customary way to avoid redundant source information in a
report? For example, you might find dozens of obituaries in the same local newspaper,
each coming from a different date/edition of the paper. For example:

Omro Herald, 12 May 1945, Page 2, Column 3
Omro Herald, 3 Jan 1952, Page 3, Column 1
Omro Herald, 21 Oct 1955, Page 11, Column 4
etc.

Can the repetition of "Omro Herald" be avoided? If so, can the date, page, and column
information be considered a "sub-source" or something like that? (I'm just looking for
ways to make data entry easier.)

Thanks again,
Jerry

P.S. My question about citing multiple repositories was driven by the GENTECH data model.
The model permits more than one repository per source, which has always mystified me.
Although copies of a source (e.g. a book) may be located in various places, you've
confirmed for me that it's not a necessary part of the citation model. In fact, since each
copy is unique, it might even be misleading to cite sources you haven't personally
examined.


-----Original Message-----
From: Mills [mailto:]
Sent: Friday, January 31, 2003 11:06 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [APG] A Dumb Question


Jerry wrote:
> . . . I examine a reference book at the public library in Houston Texas.
> It lists the marriage of Frank Wood to Selma Grant, 10 May 1925 in
> Bloomington Indiana. The book was authored by Amy Van Voort and
> published by Best Publishing, Sacramento California, 1976
> In addition to this book, I know that another copy is located at the
> San Antonio public library (and probably many others as well).
>
> In this description, which part is the evidence? Which part is the source
> and which is the repository?


Jerry, I hate to say this, but *Evidence!* doesn't have everything <g>. Not
yet, at least <g>.

The best and fullest collection of evidence definitions on the subject
(until Helen Leary comes out with her book of genealogical definitions) is
the syllabus material from the long workshop that Helen, Christine Rose, and
I did at the Richmond NGS Conference.

*Virginia Where a Nation Began: NGS 1999 Conference in the States*
(Arlington: NGS, 1999): pp. 41-48.

Photocopies can be ordered from either the NGS Library or the Allen County
Public Library in Fort Wayne.

In the meanwhile . . .

REPOSITORY:
The physical place (as in building or library), where the source is housed.

SOURCE:
Documents, books, artifacts, or people that provide information. A source
comes in either ORIGINAL or DERIVATIVE form.

INFORMATION:
The detail that is offered by a source. It is either PRIMARY or SECONDARY,
depending upon whether the informant had firsthand or secondhand knowledge.

EVIDENCE:
The information that we decide is relevant to the problem. It is either
DIRECT (if it's relevant and answers the question directly) or INDIRECT (if
it's relevant--i.e., it bears on the subject--but does not directly answer
the question without adding more evidence from elsewhere).

To put all this together . ..
REPOSITORIES contain SOURCES, which provide INFORMATION, from which we
select EVIDENCE. All of this undergoes the evaluation process to produce
proof.

The cited syllabus material has a simple "Process Map" that most people say
is very helpful in sorting this out. You'll also find a copy of that
"Process Map" in the special "Evidence" issue of the *NGS Quarterly*,
published in September 1999. NGS keeps that issue in print as a special pub.
(There will be another copy in the new Evidence!)

So, back to your original question:

REPOSITORY
Houston Public Library

SOURCE:
Amy Van Voort, *NAME OF BOOK* (Sacramento, Cal.: Best Publishing, Sacramento
1976), p. ___.

INFORMATION:
Frank Wood m. Selma Grant, 10 May 1925 in Bloomington Indiana.

EVIDENCE:
Whatever you make of the above piece of information!


> Which part(s) should be cited in a report?

Whether you are doing client work or making a report for your own file, you
will want to identify the repository at which you conduct that segment of
research.

Then, for all the material that you gather from that library (archive,
courthouse, whatever), your report should at least:
(a) Cite the source fully (as per above, with the blanks filled in)
(b) Record the relevant information from the source (or report that it had
nothing relevant).

< Is it necessary/important to
> cite other locations this book may be found, or just the copy I examined?

Heavens, no! Most people feel there has to be a line where all this
"citation nonsense" stops <g>. Trying to identify every library that has a
book you saw in your own library is well over that line!

Does this help?

Elizabeth


=============================
Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG
Author, *Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian*
Editor/Author, *Professional Genealogy: A Manual for
Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers, and Librarians*

-------------------
CG and CGL are service marks of the Board
for Certification of Genealogists, used under license by those
who have passed BCG's rigorous examination process.


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