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Archiver > TMG > 2008-09 > 1221920956


From: Terry Reigel <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] NARA as a publsher - was RE: Death Reg. Sourcing Sorrowsfrom a Long Time Lurker
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2008 10:29:16 -0400
In-Reply-To: <504545DD939A4BB486A92099F480A5BE@CherylPC>


Cheryl Freeman wrote:

> There are many census and immigration films that I read
> first at my local branch of the National Archives, then
> again in my local library's genealogy collection, and now
> access almost exclusively via Ancestry. The library's
> film and images at Ancestry are copies of the NARA film,
> and I've not noticed much in the way of image enhancement
> at Ancestry. (Contrast may be tweaked a little, but
> those darned breaks in consecutive household nymbers on
> the 1860 and 1870 censuses where my families should be
> found are still there! :) To me, the National Archives
> is the real repository, but I've been struggling with the
> fact that I didn't actually read all the films there. I
> want to keep NARA in the source without giving the
> impression that I viewed everything there, and I really
> like the idea of using NARA more like a publisher. Do
> you have an example of how you do this on your site?
>

Cheryl,

There is an article on my current census source type, at http://tmg.reigelridge.com/Sources-Census.htm

Here's a sample output for censuses viewed at the Archives and on Ancestry:

F. W. Reigel household, 1920 U.S. Census, Clark Co., Washington, population schedule, La Center, Enumeration District 16, sheet 8/17A-B, dwelling 152, family 159, National Archives micropublication T625-1922, viewed at Fort Worth Branch Archives May 1999.

Frank W. Reigel household, 1930 U.S. Census, Clark Co., Washington, population schedule, La Center, Enumeration District 57, sheet 3A, dwelling 44, family 44, National Archives micropublication T626-2485, viewed on Ancestry.com Dec 2002.

The template for that is:

[HOUSEHOLD] household, [TITLE], [COUNTY], [STATE], population schedule<, [LOCATION]><, Enumeration District [ENUMERATION DISTRICT]>, sheet [PAGE], dwelling [DWELLING], family [FAMILY]<, National Archives micropublication [FILM NUMBER]><, [COMMENTS]><, [CD]>

Part of what I meant by that comment is I don't create a Repository in TMG for the Archives, but simply enter them in the Source Definition like I would a publisher. Since they are always the publisher of US census, I put it in the template rather than in a source element. For state census I do use a repository, in part because they tend to be found in various repository-like places.

Note that the notes for images viewed at the Archives and at Ancestry are the same except for the last element, which is entered in the Comment field. (I'm not sure the date is important, but it's interesting to me so I leave it in.)

I suppose if I really wanted to think of them as publisher I could put the name in parens like is done for books and the like.

Because at least so far all the on-line sources will let you locate an image from the details I provide from the film, I don't see any need to record any vendor-specific information to locate the correct page - this makes the note useful to all readers, regardless of what source they use.

Terry

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