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rlgleason51

Entering new source types

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I have two documents for my dad. Document one is a page from his HSNyearbook. Document two is his application for ww2 honorable discharge compensation request.

 

I did not see any source types of a similar nature in master source types. What source type can be used, or if none, what do I need to do to create one?

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For the yearbook, how about "Book (One of Series)"? It will include fields for Author, Title, Short Title, Series (you would populate this with the yearbook year), publisher address, publisher name, publication date.

 

I don't know much about the other item, but it's an application form, so maybe you can adapt Lineage Application. Look at Passport Application, too, if you want to cite a document you found online or in a library--as opposed to a personal duplicate copy that your family might have retained when the event took place, for which there would be no "repository".

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If you don't mind creating custom Source Types, you might look at my custom types in my on-line book. I choose to create general purpose types which can be used for a variety of different sources.

 

For the Yearbook maybe my Government Register:

 

For the Application maybe my Government Certificate.

 

Hope these give you ideas,

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I have documents (application, references, correspondence (both from person's mother and the person himself), etc.) obtained from a still existing college my ancestor was indentured to in the 1920's. These documents contain a wealth of information that both confirmed facts already known and provided new information not previously known.

 

My question is: How do I source this? What template should I use?

 

Thanks.

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Bob,

 

When you say you "obtained" these documents from a college, I presume they were stored there? In my mind that would make the college the "Repository" for these sources, not a source itself, as it is the place where these sources can be found. For some background on what is a source and what is a repository I highly recommend reviewing Terry's Tips of Basic Concepts - Sources. For a more detailed discussion of Repositories and how I use them, see that topic in my Source Guide chapter: Repositories.

 

I would consider each document you describe to be its own source for the information it contains, and would use a Source Type for each appropriate to the kind of document it is. As examples, for correspondence I have a custom source type Correspondence for those types of documents. For a list of references or an application I might use something like my general purpose Manuscript source type for documents created by a person. And if all else fails, I always have my Miscellaneous source type as a "catch all" for any documents which don't seem to fit anything else.

 

Hope these give you ideas,

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Thank you, Michael. That helps a lot. The documents consist of a wide range of different types, from evaluations of the family, references from teachers and doctors, and correspondence between mother, school and former student.

 

How much importance should I attach to making these documents exhibits? Or, how important are exhibits and how are they used. I have been big on having all sources be included as exhibits, but I wonder if it would be worth it, as I would have to scan them as jpg files then combine the mutil-page ones into one jpg image via my photo editing program. Doable but lotta work.

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That is very much personal taste. In the case of these documents the real issue probably is how important is seeing the actual document to telling the story of this person? As for scanning, some prefer to scan everything to preserve it as a digital image instead of keeping stacks of paper. Others prefer the paper, and some do both. As for exhibits, some attach all kinds of things as exhibits. My preference is not to bother especially if the actual source is obtainable by others somewhere. So in your case, could some other relative obtain these copies from the college? If so, I wouldn't spend the time either scanning or attaching exhibits, just extract the facts and point to the college archives. But I do often choose to create a full text "transcript" of a document and attach that text using my custom Transcript tag type. For me the important thing is to document where I got a fact from, and clearly identify where/how someone else could obtain the original source themselves, even if it simply identifies where it is located in my own file cabinet.

 

Just my opinion. Hope this gives you ideas,

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Thanks again. I definitely will try to use your transcript tag, although there is just something meaningful in seeing the actual

handwriting of my ancestors. Makes it even more personal.

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