GenDoc Study Group: Chapter 13

Mastering Genealogical Documentation Study Group

Chapter 13 – Citing Original Online Content

Marceline Beem

Reference:

Jones, Thomas W. "Citing Original Online Content." In Mastering Genealogical Documentation, 135-142. Arlington, VA: National Genealogical Society, 2017.

This week’s chapter focuses on how to cite original online content.  My great-grandmother, Frances Horton, grew up in Anderson and Campbell Counties, Tennessee, where her father and his twin brother worked for the coal mines.  In writing about the social and historical context of her childhood, I discovered an article from the time period that stated miners in Anderson County earned about $2 a day and worked about 250 days a year, making their annual wage approximately $500.[1] I used WolframAlpha to convert $500 in 1891 dollars to a modern value, and came up with $13,950. My citation for the conversion follows:

Entering the search terms at WolframAlpha

Who?    WolframAlpha (omitted in citation because it is the same answer as What?)

What?   WolframAlpha

Whereis? http://www.wolframalpha.com

When? accessed 24 September 2017

Wherein? search for “$500 1891”

Most of the time, this is enough information for the citation.  However, since my audience was my ProGen study group, I opted to include an explanation of the factors used in the conversion process, since Wolfram Alpha included it on the results page. 

Explanation of factors used in conversion process:  Computed results are based on the Consumer Price Index with a 2.68% annual rate of inflation and an inflation factor of 27.89.

With the explanatory note, my full citation now reads:

WolframAlpha (http://www.wolframalpha.com : accessed 24 September 2017), search for “$500 1891.” Computed results are based on the Consumer Price Index with a 2.68% annual rate of inflation and an inflation factor of 27.89.

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[1] “The Mine Trouble,” Knoxville Journal (Knoxville, Tennessee), 17 Jul 1891, p. 2; GenealogyBank (http://genealogybank.com : accessed 24 Sep 2017).  

GenDoc Study Group: Chapter 12

Mastering Genealogical Documentation Study Group

Chapter 12 – Identifying Offline Publishers and Repositories

Marceline Beem

Reference:

Jones, Thomas W. " Identifying Offline Publishers and Repositories." In Mastering Genealogical Documentation, 125-133. Arlington, VA: National Genealogical Society, 2017.

This week’s chapter focuses on the where question – identifying publishers for offline sources and repositories of unpublished works.  The section on provenance was very helpful to me, as I have not used that very often, if ever, in my citations.

  

The provenance of a record refers to explaining who originally owned a record and how it got to the person who now owns it.  Discussing a record’s provenance isn’t required for every source, but it is helpful for unique documents in private ownership.  The discussion is included as a brief comment after the citation, and helps other researchers evaluate how reliable the information is for answering the research question.

In our homework for Chapter 6, I discussed my father’s ordination certificate, which he received in 1972.  If I cite this when writing about my father, I could include an explanation about how I received the document, or its chain of custody:

Certificate received by John A. Beem in 1972, and filed in personal papers by his wife, Betty A. Beem.  Received by the researcher, the daughter of John & Betty, from Betty in 2015.

Dr. Jones mentions that often researchers use provenance to locate an original record and then cite that original record, with no need to include a discussion of provenance in the citation. However, in the case of my father’s ordination certificate, this is the original record and very likely, the only copy. A discussion of the provenance would lend more credibility to the authenticity of the evidence.

My revised citation would now read as follows:

Christian and Missionary Alliance, Certificate of Ordination for John A. Beem, signed by Rev. Keith M. Bailey, committee chair, dated 15 Feb 1972; privately held by Marceline Beem, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Melrose, Florida, 2015. Certificate received by John A. Beem in 1972, and filed in personal papers by his wife, Betty A. Beem.  Received by the researcher, the daughter of John & Betty, from Betty in 2015. 

For an explanation of how I crafted the citation itself, refer back to the Chapter 6 homework.