Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta

Citing Your Sources

You've been told to do this and yet you've been procrastinating.  Shame on you!  Here are three reasons to get on top of the work and some examples to help you along.

The best reasons why you SHOULD cite your sources:

1. You're giving credit to the person, organization, or business that recorded the information in the first place
2. You're making it possible for someone to confirm your extraction, translation or interpretation of the original source (you don't think you're perfect, do you?)
3. You're making it possible for someone to carry on your work in the future without having to slavishly hunt down and check all sources -- they can continue on from where you left off.  For instance if you indicate you used GRANDMA 2 as your source, they know that looking into GRANDMA 5 may reveal some additional details.

Each scholarly discipline and each publisher tends to have their subtly different approach to source citation formatting, with the biggest differences between them being that they:

1. put comments on source in a footnote which is associated with a formal entry at the end of the publication in a section generally called "BIBLIOGRAPHY"
2. put author and year in parentheses immediately after the cited material, e.g., (Rempel, 2007) and put the formal entry at the end of the publication in a section generally called "REFERENCES CITED".

Since family history is more closely aligned with History as a discpline, we should be using their conventions I guess (they use #1 above), but my own field is Sociology, so I continue to my discipline's approach (#2 above).

The critical elements of the formal citation are:

• Author
• Date
• Title
• Publishing details (or respository if it's not formally published)

So - even if you develop your own approach, if you use  the above details most people won't chide you.

Some examples of the sociology approach:
• Winter, Henry H. (1990).  A Shepherd of the Oppressed: Heinrich Winter, the Last Aeltester of Chortitza.  Wheatley, ON: Author*.
• Epp-Tiessen, Esther.  (2001).  J.J. Thiessen: A Leader for His Time.  Winnipeg**:  CMBC Publications
• Morgan, Cecilia. (2004).  “Turning Strangers into Sisters?  Missionaries and Colonization in Upper Canada” in Epp, Marlene, Franca Iacovetta, & Frances Swyripa, eds., Sisters or Strangers? Immigrant, Ethnic and Racialized Women in Canadian History.  Toronto:  University of Toronto Press.
• Rempel, Judith.  (2007).  "Citing Your Sources" in Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta Blog, 7 September. http://mennonites.typepad.com/mennonite_historical_soci/2007/09/citing-your-sou.html

* use “author” when the publishing (the person/organization who pays for the publishing costs) is the same as the author.
** when the city is large, no provincial or state designation is needed.

Book and periodical titles are italicized normally and chapters or article titles within them are enclosed in quotation marks.

Unpublished sources

• Martens, Hilda (Hilda.martens@bigisp).  (2005).  E-mail to Herta Anderson, 17 January.
• Martens, Hilda.  (2005). Interviewed by Herta Anderson, 17 January.
• Martens, Hilda.  (2005). Personal communication*** with Herta Anderson, 17 January.
• Anderson, Herta.  (2005). Personal knowledge.****

*** e.g. just an ordinary conversation
**** things you just know because you personally experienced or saw the event.  The year here is generally the date when the observation was written down.

Now, if you are citing in a word-for-word exact manner, phrases or 2-3 sentences can be included between quotation marks in a paragraph and include the page number in the footnote or the in-text parenthetical note.  for example:  (Martens, 2003, p. 7).  If a longer quotation is used, it should be in a separate paragraph, indented from both margins (usually by .5") and italicized - still including the footnote or in-text parenthetical note that specifies the page source too.

In kinship,
Judii, Coordinator, Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta

Securing Your Identity

You've got to see this one - the "green" solution to shredding those pesky documents that could lead to identity theft.  NO, not family diaries, birth records.  Don't go there!

This entry is about shredding your addressed envelopes and magazines, etc.

See: A Manual Shredder.  Grin!

In Kinship,
Judii

Ethics of Archives

Ethics you say!  Many of you will not even be certain what precisely an archives does.  (And, yes, Virginia, archives is correct, "archive" is a verb; the noun form always has an "s" at the end.)

The News Story

A news story that surfaced at CBC today, said the provincial archives in Newfoundland/Labrador had commissioned 280 boxes of records (estate records and wills) to be destroyed - after they had been microfilmed, because the records were in such poor shape.  The crime, though was that two men had not complied with the contract to destroy the records.  The news story identified the men's ages, but no details regarding what constituted "poor shape".

The Response from Canadian Archivists

This story made it to archival discussion groups online today with fascinating and varied responses.  It demonstrates how useful varied points of view are, and that discussion assists with eliciting not just facts but insight. 

Stuart McLean of Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia Archives was horified that the records were destined to be destroyed, but applauded the microfilming effort.  He wondered why the poor-condition records were not being put into the market place for sale to generate revenue to benefit the archives.

Glenn Dingwall, of City of Vancouver Archives followed and indicated we should know more about the condition of the records before judging those who determined they should be destroyed [perhaps they had mould which would have contaminated other records].  He also said there may well have been a condition of donation that indicated they could NOT be sold for instance.  But he makes an even more important point:

This could set "a very bad precedent....Imagine the pressure that would come from those controlling the purse strings once they found out you can film damaged records and then sell the originals in order to recover costs and/or generate income. Why then would we not do the same with all of our holdings (and realizing lower storage costs too)? As soon as this becomes a possibility, it calls into question the motives behind any decision to deaccession records."

This caused Susan M. Hart , BC Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services Archives to agree and add: "and I for one would not appreciate my ancestor's will being flogged on the open market!"

She added, "It is common, accepted practice for government archives to [make the tough and yet appropriate decision to] microfilm valuable records and, for series that are homogeneous, to destroy all or most of the originals.... especially if the originals are in bad condition.... I'm impressed that somebody has been arrested for tampering with government records. This sends a strong message in support of treating them with respect."

A finally, Wallace J. Maclean notes: "But for an early 19th-century document, you are hardly that person's only descendent. What if another descendant would jump at the chance to buy it?"

How this affects the MHSA

At the MHSA we are actually in the midst of trying to determine the appropriate location for a small collection of records for a national Mennonite organization that were donated to us.  We thought that the records might best be "repatriated" to join other records from that organization in another archives. 

However, we have determined that there is no Mennonite archival repository in Canada that has been collecting the records.  Yet the organization still exists and now is interested in acquiring the records and simply storing them in their own administrative offices. 

Our decision?  Thank goodness for such discussions online and the fact that we now have an archival mentor at the MHSA (Jim Bowman, archivist with the Glenbow Museum and Archives). 

Jim's suggestion is that when we accept donated records, there is associated "a certain amount of moral responsibility to care for them, and to make sure that they're kept intact, and available for consultation." 

Further he says, individuals "do a lot of soul-searching before they decide to donate them to an archives.  Their personal papers, after all, may be the only documentation of the meaningful aspects of their lives.  They wonder whether their archives will be cared for, and whether they will be a source of information and inspiration for future generations."

As a result, the MHSA will be keeping the records to ensure that they are preserved according to the wishes of the family, in an environmentally-safe setting, and are not inadvertently destroyed by a staff person in the administrative body who is just "cleaning house" one day.

Interestingly, the organization has replied that they are going to use this opportunity to start thinking about establishing an archives.  Their chief officer has written, "Our original founders, movers and shakers ... are starting to disappear, and their records, notes and stories with them. Some of those records ... are more part of the story of the individual than of the organization, and need to be kept as such. But even in those circumstances, it is extremely helpful ... to know where those records are located, so that anyone who is looking up ... [organization name's] history has access to the fullest possible spectrum of information."

In Kinship,
Judii

Asking for Help

From time to time I get very general queries that are impossible to answer or would take hours to answer well.  And, too often, when I reply with details, the person never writes again.  Have they found it helpful?  Are they willing to make a donation to the organization I am volunteering with?  Hard to tell.

The queries are sent pretty innocently, but they generate a LOT of work. It sometimes takes an hour to answer properly.  Or more. 

So, in the interests of putting this down in writing once - and hopefully being able to refer inquirers to it - here's my suggestion list.

1. Enter what you already know (including citing sources) into a genealogy database (I recommend Brothers Keeper; but Legacy, The Master Genealogist and Reunion are also very good ones).
2. Print our a report known as a Pedigree Chart so you have a clear accounting of vital dates and places that are known.
3. Use it to determine which branch/person you want to pursue information on
4. Buy a copy of GRANDMA 5 (it has a shareware copy of a genealogy software on it, so you may want to do this first) and see how it can extend what you know/want to know
   - Canadians will want to buy it from the MHSA bookstore (link at upper link of this page
   - Use the category links at the right for more info about GRANDMA
5. Meanwhile, interview/consult all known elderly relatives - they'll have a ton of knowledge that's likely not written down anywhere else than in their diaries, letters and books - and which may get destroyed when they pass (you can save the content this way at least; even better, try to preserve the documents in an environmentally responsible location such as an archives as well)
6. Consult Tim Janzen's website or the Mennonite Genealogy Data Index for possible sources of information that fit the timeframe and geography of the person/branch that you are pursuing
7. Join a local genealogy society or a Mennonite history society and use the local resources that are likely to tie into your family that they have
8. Start writing for government or church record copies that may help you document events (the links to Tim Janzen and the MGDI will be very helpful here; and don't forget to donate for the time they spend on your request)
9. Join a Mennonite discussion group like the CAN-MHSA, or Menno-Rec-Roots to learn the language of genealogy, how others ask and answer questions, and then introduce yourself and your specific questions about brick walls that you've encountered

And, if you want to learn more and faster ... get out and volunteer at your local genealogy or Mennonite history society.  You'll get some dedicated training in responding to queries, get regular access and depth of knowledge regarding their in house resources and paying for the access through fair, sweat equity.

And, if you want to read what a professional genealogist has to say about getting started - with hints/tips, please see Brian Hutchison's Getting Started (16 easy chapters online).

In Kinship,
Judii

Cite Your Sources

When you keep family information from a website, book, e-mail, or newsletter - do you document the source as well? 

If not - you really should - and not just to be nice.

There are three important reasons, in my view by doing so, you:

1. Recognize that people before you have worked on the family history before you (and deserve credit for their work/analytic contributions)
2. Provide for the possibility of followup on a source/person
3. Eliminate the need for re-investigating a fact in your database (unless of course you have reason to doubt the accuracy of data extraction -- that's where (b) comes in.

Some folks will roll their eyes here - or look frightened because they think citing a source is a bit or daunting effort.  Really, it's not hard and there are several critical elements:

1. Author - generally put it in surname first order (e.g. Rempel, Judith) so that it is easy to find in an alphabetical list
   
   

   When the source is an e-mail message, I generally add the e-mail address right into the Author portion of the citation, e.g. Martens, Frank (abc@sommerland.ca).

2. Title - of the work (e.g. e-mail message from Frank Martens to Judith Rempel, or The Old Colony (Chortitza) of Russia).  If the work is part of a larger work (e.g., an essay by one author in a compiled work like "Worship and Teaching in the Sommerfeld Church" in Church, Family and Village).
3. Place where Published: generally a city (e.g. Winnipeg or Altona, MB).
   
   

   When the place of publication is large (i.e. a city), usually the province is not identified.  Where ambiguous or its a small place, province is identified.  Countries are generally not identified.  So, use Morris, MB; or Clearbrook, BC; or Hague, SK; but Vancouver, Calgary, and Winnipeg.

4. Publisher - The body (person or organization or company) that sook on the expense of publishing the book (e.g. Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society or University of Alberta Press).
   
   Frequently, Mennonite family histories are SELF-PUBLISHED, in which case the Place where Published and Publisher portion looks like:  Calgary: Author.  If they are not published (not available for sale), no publisher/place of publisher is generally documented.

Some sample citations:

1. e-mail: 
   Martens, Frank (abc@sommerland.ca).  2006.  e-mail message to Judith Rempel.
2. Book:
   Enss, Adolf; Jacob E. Peters & Otto Hamm (2001).  Church Family and Village: Essays on Mennonite Life on the West Reserve.  Winnipeg:  Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society.
3. Article in Book:
   Schroeder, David. "Worship and Teaching in the Sommerfeld Church" in Church Family and Village: Essays on Mennonite Life on the West Reserve.  Winnipeg:  Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society.
4. Unpublished manuscript:
   Loeppky, Barb.  (1999).  "The Family Tree of Heinrick (sic) J. Wall and Maria Peters".  Unpublished manuscript available from barbdennis@sk.sympatico.ca.
5. Nonbook, non-manuscript document:
   Canadian Mennonite Board of Colonization (1924). Family record photocopy #1196 received from Mennonite Historical Society of Alberta, Calgary.

So - there are three more additional principles illustrated above.

1. Enough detail is provided so that the person reading the account (and noting the source) can themselves figure out how to locate the original document.
2. If a work is published, it is to be italicized (if italics are impossible, underlying is used).  If it is not and is part of a larger work, the title is to be encased in quotation marks and the larger work also identified.  Sometimes unpublished work titles are encased in quotation marks as well.
3. If it's not possible to identify the title of a work - it's acceptable to describe it.

In kinship,
Judii

Preserving Old Records/Documents/Books

On a regular basis I hear from folks who are happily in the possession of old family records - leather bound books, stapled diaries or log books, tissue or newsprint paper letters, and other items.  Folks are very happy to discuss how happy they are to have these - that they've lasted through the ages (decades, but occasionally over a hundred years).

When I broach the question as to how they are looking after them, though, things get very silent.  Documents age very badly in homes.  Temperature and humidity fluctuations are devastating to paper.  Contact with vinyl, post it notes, paper clips and staples create spot damage - almost invariably.  And, leafing through those papers during family gatherings - with greasy cookie in hand and licking one's dry fingers as one pages through them.... Yikes!

These are exactly the reasons why we encourage folks to be conscious of what they are doing.  While the records have lasted until now - such actions guarantee record deterioration. 

Do consider putting your precious records in safe conditions.  For some more background on this, see our website page on Preserving Old Documents/Books.

In kinship,
Judii