When
Cite Your Sources: A Manual for Documenting Family histories and Genealogical
Records
by Richard S. Lackey (Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi,
1980) was published it was a welcome addition to the genealogical world. It
was the first style book published concerning citation with the genealogist,
especially the new genealogist, specifically in mind. He covers 14 categories
of sources which have been traditionally used by genealogists. What follows is
my interpretation of his work, and especially how it might differ from the
source templates provided by Wholly Genes in The Master Genealogist. I've
given only the full citation, with exceptions, because
(for those of you who have not read the book)
the book does not even include the word bibliography,
(except on page 27, where he gives a list of standard genealogical
abbreviations),
and he deals with the second, or short, citation in three pages.
Lackey All Purpose:
We might as well begin with my all-in-one source. It is to be used only if you
are using TMG and have your sources set to 'Custom-Evidence,' also known as
'Custom-Mills.' You should have
no intention of ever changing that designation. If you do, and you've used
this source extensively, you will have more than the usual amount of "cleanup"
to do. If you've read
Cite Your Sources
you will find that Professor Lackey reused the same elements, and often in the
same order, for several of his sources. You could almost tell what element of
a source he was going to advise the genealogist to cite next; he had often
mentioned the same element(s) in previous pages. This source will cover the
following: Unpublished Miscellaneous, Letter, Civil Vital Records, Courthouse
Records, Church and Cemetery Records, State and Federal Land Records, Military
Records and Oral Communication. It follows (more or less) the TMG
interpretation of those sources.
Depending upon the specific source you might want to change one or two elements
around in the Patterns for that specific source alone.
Ultimate Family Tree,
in their interpretation of Lackey, provided a citation template that if
converted into TMG would read like this:
The Other Sources:
TMG's interpretation of Lackey's sources is provided in Appendix D, pages 351
to 353 of the Reference Manual for version 4. Every TMG user has a copy of the
manual, at least in the computer, accessed with Acrobat Reader, with the
program. I agree with a several of
the interpretations given, including Books, Pamphlets and Monographs,
Courthouse Records, and Tax Lists, among others.
Most of this is, I think, self-explanatory. The Repository and Repository
Address are included because
'some periodicals have unusual titles and may be very difficult to locate'
[page 47],
and is therefore optional. As an example, I would not include
Washington, D.C. when citing the
NGS Quarterly
but I
might
include Morgantown, Pa., when citing
Mennonite Family History.
It is also placed in parenthesises. The [DATE] is the date of the volume, and
is in parenthesises.
Newspapers:
I do not understand the Wholly Genes interpretation of this source. It doesn't
look like what Professor Lackey provided. Here's my template:
You should include the location (in parenthesises) of the newspaper when it's
not obvious. You would not include New York City when citing
The New York Times
or Paris, France when citing
Le Monde.
But if the name of the newspaper is
The Daily News,
you must give the location. You have the option of including the page number
in [PAGE] or leaving it blank and include the page number along with the column
number in the [CD]. The repository is the historical society or archives where
you found an old newspaper.
This can be customized to look exactly like the template in
Evidence!
by adding the element
<[HOUSEHOLD]>
to the beginning of the full footnote. The bibliographic entry is taken from
Evidence!
The [RECORD TYPE] would be the specific census and schedule,
e.g.:
U.S census (population schedule). The [LOCATION] is the county and (if a
federal census) state that is enumerated. [SECOND LOCATION] has the same
information as in the [LOCATION] field, but it is reversed. The state would
appear first, with a period, the county second, as such:
Minnesota. Winnona County.
As to what to include in the [PAGE] field you have two options. You can
include the actual page number, found in the census books, with the line
numbers placed in [CD2]. Or, if the census divided the county into smaller
civil divisions than the county (which wasn't always the case) then you may,
perhaps should, place the name of the township, municipality, or smaller
division here. If you choose that option, put parenthesises around the
element,
e.g:
([PAGE]). The page and line numbers would then both be placed in [CD2]. In
later censuses, where family and dwelling numbers are recorded, they would be
included in [CD2]. [CD1] has the usual discursive comments.
[PAGE] would describe whose Bible it was or is,
e.g.:
The Smyth Family Bible,
or
Family Bible Record of Alexander Gordon of Clark Co., Miss. [
Cite,
page 64]. [BIBLE TITLE] would give the full title as it appears on the title
page, e.g.:
The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments...
The repository is who owns the Bible today, with [REPOSITORY REFERENCE]
including words on the order of "owned in 2002 by"
Oral Interview:
Yes, this was included in the Lackey All Purpose. But here it will resemble
more like what Professor Lackey wrote.
The [TITLE] would include the name of the person being interviewed, the [DATE]
being the interview date. The repository is who, or what, owns the transcript
or recording of the interview. [REPOSITORY REFERENCE] would have words to the
effect of "owned 1987 by''. [MEMO] would include an evaluation of the
interview, the condition of the transcript or other important information.
If you, like me, are using the Mills cites, please consider adding some custom
Lackey source templates to your sorce templates. There are times when I
consider Lackey a lot easier to understand and use. If used properly they can
make excellent looking citations.