Sources

[RWells 0]

I have just converted from Legacy.

 

I would like to use the Mills source templates.

 

How do I convert my old legacy imports to the new mills template?

 

Thanks

Roger

[Jim Byram 0]

After import, all of the imported sources are using a Mills source type... They all just happen to be using the same Mills source type.

 

To change that source type to another, you will need to go through the sources one-by-one and on the General tab of the Source Definition screen, click the [source type] button and select one of the available source types. Edit the data on the General tab to get the data into the appropriate fields. Empty remnant fields not included in that source type will be removed when you save the source definition. Experiment with one source and you'll see how it works.

[Michael Hannah 0]

Hi Roger,

 

If you are new to TMG and how it records sources, I recommend reviewing Terry's web site Tips about the basic TMG concept of recording a source here, and Terry's beginning Source Tutorial here. They are great resources to understanding TMG sources.

[RWells 0]

Thanks for both helps. They answered my questions.

 

I guess in looking at the source I find it difficult to make a source for every birth certificate I have.

 

I would much prefer to have one source of Kentucky Birth Certificate and then place in the CD the other information. I know I can make TMG do this using the sentence structure but I am still undecided.

 

So I guess I will try to find out what others have done and go from their.

 

Thanks

Roger

[Terry Reigel 0]

Roger,

 

You can certainly do that - many TMG users do. There is a long-running conversation here, and more so on the TMG-List on Rootsweb, about the merits of the so-called "Splitter" and "Lumper" approaches.

 

If you prefer to define fewer sources, you can put the details in the CD as you suggest. Just make sure the associated Source Elements you will not use are either in conditional bracket ( ) or are removed entirely from the templates on the Output Forms tab.

[Michael Hannah 0]

Roger,

 

How you record the information in TMG is very much a matter of personal taste. The reason it does not matter a great deal is that either lots of detailed sources with little in the CD (splitter), or fewer general sources with detailed CDs (lumper), can be made to produce nearly the same report output in the Full Footnotes, Short Footnotes, and Bibliography. TMG is very flexible in that regard. And it is that output that really matters so that others later can find your sources. Only you are going to be able to see what your sources look like inside of TMG. And if you want to change your mind later, TMG and the companion TMG Utility, make it easy to do that.

 

So focus on what your output will look like, and don't worry quite so much how you record it in TMG. The important thing is to get started and explore the many options that TMG provides.

 

And keep asking questions. Many of us users will be happy to try to help.

[RWells 0]

Thanks for the help.

 

I set up a dummy person and created a new source for birth and got it to work like I wanted. The only problem is that I discovered you can not use the CD in a biography.

 

Another question

 

I am using CD1, CD2, CD3...

 

How can I change the reminder to let me know what to enter into each one? Or can I somehow put a default note into the citation detail to explain this?

 

Thanks

Roger

Edited February 13, 2010 by RWells

[Terry Reigel 0]

No, CDs cannot work in bibliographies, because the bibliography contains only one entry for each source cited in the report. But the source may be cited many times, each with potentially a different text in the CD. There's no way to select which of those many CDs to use in the bibliography, so they are not allowed.

 

That's one of the difficulties with a "lumper" approach - you cannot get all the detail you might want in the bibliography.

 

You can change the Reminder for sources in two places. In the Source Type definition you can change it so it applies to all sources using that Source Type. Or, you can change it on the Supplemental tab of the Source Definition so it applies only to that one Source.

 

Since the text in the Reminder window can be copied, you can place an example of what you want to enter in the CD in the Reminder field of either the Source Type or the individual Source and then copy and paste it when you make the citations.

[Michael Hannah 0]

Hi Roger,

 

Terry is absolutely correct about CDs not being in Bibliographies, and why. This is an issue if you "lump" your TMG Source records "too" much. It is what I meant by "nearly the same report output" in my post above. While this can cause problems in the Bibliography for a "lumper", TMG will actually help you in the Bibliography if you are a "splitter". You could have multiple different (split) Source records for nearly the same thing, with data in Source Elements that make each Source and its Footnote output different. But if you carefully construct their Bibliography templates to only include "some" of those Source Element fields and to cause the resulting Bibliography output to be exactly identical for all those slightly different split sources, TMG will combine (lump) those entries from those different source records and only produce the one (lumped) Bibliography entry. Another example of where the Bibliography is intended to produce only one entry from multiple citations.

[RWells 0]

I appreciate the help each of you have given.

 

Now time for another questions:

 

When I go to look at the default for a birth registration state leval in TMG:

[NAME OF PERSON], [RECORD TYPE]< [FILE NUMBER]><, [CD]> ([FILE DATE]), [REPOSITORY], [REPOSITORY ADDRESS].

 

I use the following:

[CD1], <[CD4] >[RECORD TYPE]< number [CD2]> ([CD3]), [REPOSITORY], [REPOSITORY ADDRESS].

 

CD1 = Persons Name; CD2 = Certificate number; CD3 = File date; CD4 = delayed if needed

 

I notice in reading the Evidence Explained book on page 430 for vital records certificates it seems to have a different format:

Jurisdiction; Agency; Certificate type; certificate number; file date; Person; repository; repository location

 

Im confused between what is given in TMG and what I see in the book?

 

Please offer any suggestions to my format and any help will be appreciated.

 

Thanks

Roger

[RWells 0]

Found my own answer there is a difference in Mills book Evidence and Evidence Explained.

 

TMG seems to follow Evidence.

 

Wonder Why??? Oh well another decision.

 

Has anyone else made this decision?

 

Has anyone set up a source for the newFamilySearch?

 

 

 

Roger

Edited February 14, 2010 by RWells

[Jim Byram 0]

Evidence Explained was published many years after the TMG source templates were designed.

[Michael Hannah 0]

Hi Roger,

 

First, if your question is truly new, you should start a new topic so other users will notice.

 

Next, you asked for suggestions about a source template. I think that is really up to you, and the nature of where and for whom you are producing your reports. You also seem to wonder about the nature of TMG's examples. What follows explains (one user's opinion of) why I don't think that is very important.

 

Personally I am not very concerned about TMG's example source templates, first constructed many years ago. Many of us users view TMG primarily as a very flexible tool that can produce whatever output we desire. We view the examples in TMG, whether sentences or source templates, as only simple examples of one possible kind of output. While TMG is totally usable as shipped, for me its greatest power is that I can customize the output to my standards and taste. The Evidence books are excellent resources, but the form of footnotes, etc., can depend more upon what country and what journal is your target for publication. And these may require formats that are very different than Evidence. The beauty of TMG is that you can modify the templates to your publication needs. If you want to change the templates to match the most current Evidence publication, you can. Personally I only care that I use a consistent format (which for me does not exactly follow Evidence), and that any reader of my output has all the information needed to find my source themselves. I think that is more important than a particular format.

[Michael Hannah 0]

Has anyone set up a source for the newFamilySearch?

Most examples I have seen on this Forum and on the TMG-L RootsWeb List do not define FamilySearch as a source. The most common practice I have seen so far is to either define it in TMG as a Repository or include some comment in the citation. Usually people cite as the source either the census or church register or a person's GEDCOM or whatever is the source reference in FamilySearch, but include in the citation that they did not see the original but saw a transcription of the information on FamilySearch on such a date. That practice seems to encourage focusing on, and someday double checking in, the original source of the data.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,

[RWells 0]

You are right I would not consider FamilySearch a source.

 

But newFamilySource would be a source for what we as LDS used to find in the IGI about ordinanec dates. So I would consider it a source for this information.

 

In other instances it would not be a source but in my thinking a repository.

 

Roger

[Michael Hannah 0]

Hmmm... I choose to have the Family Record, or Individual Record, or Patron Sheet, etc., as the source and including the person who submitted it, and I have the IGI or the LDS as a Repository. As an example, my templates are:

FF: [ITAL:][TITLE][:ITAL]<, [SUBTITLE]><, [SERIES]><; [CD]>. Cited as [ITAL:][SHORT TITLE][:ITAL]<. [CM]>SF: [ITAL:][SHORT TITLE][:ITAL]<, [SERIES]><, [CD]><. [CM]>B: [ITAL:][TITLE][:ITAL]<, [SUBTITLE]><, [SERIES]>. <[PUBLISHER ADDRESS]: >[PUBLISHER]<, [PUBLISH DATE]>. <[REPOSITORY REFERENCE]. >[REPOSITORY]<, [REPOSITORY ADDRESS]><. [ANNOTATION]>

I am a "lumper" and "lump" the sources by film number, and put most details in the [CD]. An example Bibliography is:

 

LDS Patron Sheets, LDS Enrollments, Film #1985663. Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. LDS On-line FamilySearch, http://www.familysearch.org/. The film of the patron sheets are also available at LDS libraries.

 

An example Full Footnote is:

LDS Patron Sheets, LDS Enrollments, Source Call #1553541 (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church); Batch #: F511929, Sheet #: 61, born 1844 in Ohio, father- John Skipton, mother- Sarah Willis. Cited as LDS Sheets. Searched 26 Dec 2000.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,