Tuesday, April 14, 2015

One Document, Four Database Providers, and Four Different Source Citations (or not)

On the April 13th Mondays With Myrt Hangout On Air, we had a discussion about a record for one of DearMYRTLE's ancestors.

1)  On MyHeritage, Pat had found a record for her ancestor, Thomas Wasden (1821-1891) on the list of her Record Matches.  She appreciated that MyHeritage found this record for her since she had never seen it.  The record on MyHeritage is shown below (two screens):



The record is from the database for "Utah Veterans With Federal Service Buried in Utah, Territorial to 1966."  The record summary contains indexed information on the first screen above, and the index card image with the information is shown in the second screen.

Pat could save this record to her ancestor using the "Save record" button, and when she did, she could then add the indexed record details to her person in her MyHeritage tree.  She could also see the source citation crafted by MyHeritage for this record.  Here is an image of the source citation:


As you can see, it is a summary of the indexed information, followed by the title of the database as the "Source" and a link to the record on MyHeritage.

Pat thought, as do I and others, that this is not a source citation to use in a genealogical database - it's missing many elements of a quality source citation.

2)  Having noted on the second screen above, that this record image and indexed information had been provided by FamilySearch (through the partnership agreements between MyHeritage and FamilySearch), Pat clicked on the link to the image on FamilySearch:


FamilySearch provides a source citation at the bottom of the screen for this record (I clicked on the "Show citation" tab to make it show up).  The record summary can be attached to a person in the FamilySearch Family Tree.  The source citation is:

"Utah, Veterans with Federal Service Buried in Utah, Territorial to 1966," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-11844-111251-69?cc=1542862 : accessed 14 April 2015), W > Wasden, Thomas, 1891 > image 1 of 1; State Archives, Capitol Building, Salt Lake City.

That is a very specific source citation for this document, and is, I think, an Evidence Explained-quality citation.  Except for the long URL.

3)  I wondered if this record was also on Findmypast, which also has a partnership with FamilySearch.  It is, here is the record summary on Findmypast for this record:


Findmypast provides only the record transcription for this record, describes the record collection in words, and notes that the information was used by permission of FamilySearch Intl.

I found no way to see a source citation for this record on Findmypast.  Hopefully, Findmypast will provide quality source citations in the future.

4)  Lastly, I knew that Ancestry.com had a partnership with FamilySearch - was this record also found on Ancestry.com?  Yes -- here's the record summary:


The indexed information is provided, and a link to the image on FamilySearch.

The source citation for this record on Ancestry.com is:

Ancestry.com. Utah, Veterans with Federal Service Buried in Utah, Territorial to 1966 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
Original data: Veterans with Federal Service Buried in Utah, Territorial to 1966. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.

This is not a quality source citation IMHO because it does not refer to the subject, Thomas Wasden, or to the actual original source of the data in the Utah State Archives in Salt Lake City.    If a user attached this record to a person in their Ancestry Member Tree, the source information above would be included.

5)  From this little escapade into one record and sources for that record on four websites, we see that:

*  MyHeritage provides an indexed transcription and a record image, but lists only the database title as a source, with no information about the subject of the record, and no information about the source of the original record.

*  FamilySearch provides an indexed transcription and a record image, plus a complete source citation, including the original source of the image.

*  Findmypast provides an indexed transcription and a record image, but has no actual source citation, but does provide the title of the database.

*  Ancestry.com provides an indexed transcription and a link to the record image, and a source that does not provide information about the subject of the record, and credits FamilySearch with the original record rather than the Utah State Archives.

6)  During the discussion on the Mondays With Myrt, Pat said that she would cite the FamilySearch record image, since that was the source for the other three websites, and also cite the original data in the Utah State Archives.

She also hoped that MyHeritage would improve their source citation quality to include information about the subject of the record, the record provider, and the source of the source.

I hope that MyHeritage, Findmypast and Ancestry.com, and other record providers, will improve their source citations to the point where researchers are confident that they provide quality information (in my view, similar to Evidence Explained citations).

7)  My own source citation for this record would be something like this:

"Utah, Veterans with Federal Service Buried in Utah, Territorial to 1966," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 14 April 2015), W > Wasden, Thomas, 1891 > image 1 of 1; citing State Archives, Capitol Building, Salt Lake City.


Copyright (c) 2015) Randall J. Seaver


1 comment:

T said...

What use is a source citation if tomorrow or next year you can't go back and find the document in question? Ancestry is abysmal at this. And citing a family tree at ancestry is useless. You will never find the tree you used ever again. My one and only hint for a brick wall gggrandmother is on a document for someone else on a tree at ancestry. I can't find it again. I was able to break that wall with that information but I'd sure like to see that tree again.