GenDoc Study Group: Chapter 14

Mastering Genealogical Documentation Study Group

Chapter 14 – Citing Images of Previously Published Materials

Marceline Beem

Reference:

Jones, Thomas W. "Citing Images of Previously Published Materials." In Mastering Genealogical Documentation, 143-154. Arlington, VA: National Genealogical Society, 2017.

This week’s chapter focuses on citing online images of previously published materials, such as journals and books.  Dr. Jones gives five options for citing and when to use each option.  Dr. Jones prefers to cite the material without acknowledging the online image source, as the online image is not going to be different from what someone would see if they were viewing the book or journal at a brick-and-mortar library.  His viewpoint it coming from a print publisher, where space is at a premium.

My great-grandparents moved from Knoxville, Tennessee to Jacksonville, Florida between 1914 and 1916, when they first appeared in the Jacksonville city directory.  I viewed this directory online at Ancestry, but using Dr. Jones’ preferred citation option, especially for print media, my citation for the directory is just like citing a book, without any reference to Ancestry.  This is how I cited the 1916 and 1917 directories in the family sketch about my great-grandmother, Frances Horton Beem:

Jacksonville City Directory (Jacksonville, Florida: R.L. Polk & Co.) 1916, p. 214, entry A.M. Been and 1917, p. 187.

Arthur M. Beem in the Jacksonville 1917 City Directory

The citation is okay, but could be cleaned up a little bit by removing the “p.” for the page number and putting the information about the name spelling in a discursive note following the citation.  My revised citation:

Jacksonville City Directory (Jacksonville, Fla: R.L. Polk & Co.) 1916, 214 and 1917, 187. The 1916 directory lists Arthur’s name as “A.M. Been.”