Family Records Centre closure

[PeterCh 0]

Now that the FRC in London is closed, the repository for many of my sources is incorrect. I guess BMD sources should now refer to the General Register Office as the repository, while census and wills formerly at the FRC should now cite The National Archives as the repository. Unfortunately I have a large number of sources that refer to the FRC, and many more actual citations. Can anyone suggest a simple way of changing the repository? I did think of creating a new repository record for the GRO (I already have one for TNA), and then trying change the repository using TMG Utility, but that won't work as some will need to change to GRO, and some to TNA. Will I have to change them all manually?

[Terry Reigel 0]

Why not just edit the existing repository for the FRC to change it to The National Archives, or do you still need it for other records?

[Michael Hannah 0]

Of course, whether to change this or not is probably a matter of taste. For some of my records I prefer to cite the repository that I visited to see that record, even if that repository is now closed. You might consider a Repository Memo (which could be included in Bibliography templates as the element [RM]) that described its years of operation and where its records were transferred. I would be especially inclined to take this approach if some of its records went one place and others another.

[PeterCh 0]

Thanks for the suggestions. I had initially thought of simply changing the repository details to those of the new repository as Terry suggests, but realised this wouldn't work since the sources originally at the FRC are now spread between two repositories.

 

Adding a repository memo is something I hadn't thought of, and I can see the sense in it. But to my mind the main reason for citing the source and repository is so that someone else can go straight to the source and confirm my observations. As Michael says, it's a matter of taste, but I'm not sure a memo would fulfil that requirement.

[Michael Hannah 0]

...to my mind the main reason for citing the source...

Yes, Peter, that is the most important question. What is your reason for citing the source. Is it to record where you found the source, or to suggest to your reader where they may find the source. My taste is the first reason since I have seen many, many of my sources move to different repositories. No matter when I publish anything some of my sources will have moved. For that reason I have given up trying to track where sources move to as I found it nearly impossible to keep up. I simply record where they were when I viewed them and leave it as a problem for the reader to find out where they might be now. But again, that is my taste.

 

A repository memo could say something like: "As of October 31, 2008, records of type A have moved to repository A, and records of type B have moved to repository B." An alternative might be using the Comments field in each individual Source. My taste is to only include the complete Repository information (address, etc.) in the Bibliography template, where I also include the Source Comments element. The individual Source Comments could say something like: "As of October 31, 2008, this source was moved from repository A to repository B." That way you would have different comments to reflect the two different destinations of sources, and the statement would be accurate even if they moved again later.