Thursday, April 5, 2012

1940 Census - Source / Citation Creation

In the previous post 1940 Census - What Data to be Captured I listed the Facts that I want to capture. Each of us might want to do that. Unlike previous census years and that there isn't a "printer friendly" page that can be printed and written on, I created a spreadsheet.

In the past, I would print the "printer friendly" page and take notes from the Image. This gets me to look at the image to gather what I want to capture, but it also lets me look at the whole page, or preceding and following pages for Neighbors.

The spreadsheet does the same for me. I revised it a couple of times until I "got it right" for now at least. But on that spreadsheet I added some other details, that will be used for the Citation.

  • NARA File Series
  • Series
  • Roll
  • State
  • County
  • ED
  • Description
  • Page # A/B
  • Filename
I download and save the image and give it a filename that is meaningful to me. Remember, that at this point, there is no index, no user friendly features, just looking at an image and capturing the data.

Looking at the Image, Recording the data, looking at the neighbors, as usual.

Now to Family Tree Maker.

I am using the Source Template feature in Family Tree Maker. There isn't a set template for the 1940 Census, so for now, I will use the 1930 Template with the Year and Location. All of my Census Templates are in that format. Creating a new Source Template for the County, I paste a "blank" Citation, that will be copied for the remaining Citations for the 1940 Census.

 1940 U.S. census, _________ County, _______ [State], [Location], population schedule, enumeration district (ED) _____, page __ [(stamped)] or sheet __ [(handwritten)], dwelling __, family ___, line ____, [Name of Person]; digital image, Archives.gov (http://1940census.archives.gov: accessed ________ [Date]); citing NARA microfilm publication T627, roll _______

I will then ADD a new Citation for the first family / household and fill in the blanks from the worksheet.

I will switch to the Media Tab, and Add the 'new' Media file to that citation. That's where the Filename come in handy.

So, the Citation screen looks like this:


That top line, on the left, is the "fill in the blanks" citation. I then copied that to the first real Citation, which appears on the Right. The media file has been selected, and I put them into the Media Category of Census - Federal.

So far, not data has been entered, only the Citation has been completed. From here, the data entry will begin, and when an entry has been made, the Link To Existing menu will be used to Link the Fact to this Citation.

________________________________________________________________  

Copyright © 2012 by H R Worthington

11 comments:

  1. Russ, Great idea! Now you can link this file to each of the rest of the members of that family!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous,

    Yes. The Image is a Citation Image. One image, one citation, linked to many.

    Hope it helps,

    Russ

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am still baffled by the mechanics of sources and citations in FTM...and I never feel like I'm doing it right. A couple of questions:
    (1) Are you making a separate Source for each State/County combination?
    (2) I'm assuming #1 is yes, since the source in your example is "Pennsylvania, Chester." Are there advantages to creating sources by county versus just having 1 source for the entire 1940 Census?
    (3) Are you making a new citation for each member of the family? (That makes sense to me since the citation text specifies a person.)
    (4) If #3 is yes, then why does your example reference lines "59-61"?

    Sorry, these are pretty basic...I'm just trying to understand this better so I don't have to end up doing as much "fixing" things down the road.

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Michael,

    I put them into the template feature.

    Add, New, then start the keyword "cen" (without the quote) and select Year and Location, as I tried to say above. So, the answer, is yes.

    It make it easier to find, when selected an existing CITATION.

    Remember there is a difference between Source and Citation. The template creates the Source, you then add the Citation. There are a couple of blog posts on the use of the Templates.

    You can, if you want, make a new citation for each member of the family. I don't, I do it a Citation by Household. That's why you see lines 59-61. But you can to it by person.

    The key for you to do, it see what your Bibliography Report AND a report with EndNotes looks like.

    You can put lots of text in the Citation Text. I don't, I just enter "Report for" head of household.

    If I want to see the make up of a household, I have other ways to see that.

    Hope that helps,

    Russ
    Russ

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That does help, Russ. Thanks for taking the time to explain. I still feel like I'm never doing this right... :)

      Delete
    2. Michael,

      I have updated this format.

      Please see: Census Citations - Revision

      http://ftmuser.blogspot.com/2012/04/census-citations-revision.html

      I am finally happy with how it looks.

      Russ

      Delete
  5. A few comments about your citation... Typically, the "location" (towhship and incorporated place) would come directly after "population schedule." The sheet number would follow the enumeration district number since it directly relates to the ED, then comes the page number. The census does not have a family number, so that would be left out, and I have elected to refer to the dwelling as "household" since that is the wording used on the census (personal preference).

    I have seen others use the website title "Archives.gov." This has perplexed me since the title of NARA's website is "National Archives" (see upper left of webpage), and I'm not sure if we should be "citing" the National Archives since the images actually belong to them, so I leave that word out.

    Just my 2+ cents

    ReplyDelete
  6. A few comments about your citation... Typically, the "location" (towhship and incorporated place) would come directly after "population schedule." The sheet number would follow the enumeration district number since it directly relates to the ED, then comes the page number. The census does not have a family number, so that would be left out, and I have elected to refer to the dwelling as "household" since that is the wording used on the census (personal preference).

    I have seen others use the website title "Archives.gov." This has perplexed me since the title of NARA's website is "National Archives" (see upper left of webpage), and I'm not sure if we should be "citing" the National Archives since the images actually belong to them, so I leave that word out (i.e. National Archives microfilm publication T627, roll [number]).

    I do not use FTM and, therefore, I am not familiar with their templates. My citation is based on Elizabeth Shown Mills, "Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace," second edition (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2009).

    Just my 2+ cents

    ReplyDelete
  7. chmcgee,

    I have seen so many variations, which comes first and second, and do we need Roll or microfilm numbers ... I am waiting to see one agreed two format. I just put this up as it works for me now. I can always modify it later.

    The Census Records DO show Family Numbers. In fact I have found it very, very helpful for identifying family groups in the Census.

    One column for Dwelling Number, one for Family. I try to use what is on the form.

    Since I am getting my images from Ancestry, that is who I am going to say I received it from. In my Example was "http://1940census.archives.gov" as I have used them as well.

    Thank you for your feedback.


    Russ

    ReplyDelete
  8. chmcgee,

    FTM's templates are also based on Evidence Explained!.

    Russ

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nice idea you have. I've learned something from you. Great job. Keep it up!

    Cathy
    family trees

    ReplyDelete

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