Cheryl, Not all that "out in left field." That's exactly what I enter when I'm citing a source received by email. You'd be amazed at how many emails I get concerning folks included in my RootsWeb posting. I have a single source for email communications in my source list. When I use it, I include the person's name and email address in the Vol/Page, etc. field and the date I got the email in the Date field. In the comments block I list what source they cite and other details they include. That way, if I need to get back to that source later, or provide info to someone else who needs to contact them, I have a record of when I got the info & the person's email address at that time. It gives me a pretty good idea of whether or not I'll be able to contact them again. Dick ----- Original Message ----- From: "singhals" <singhals@erols.com> To: <PAF-5-USERS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2005 1:59 PM Subject: Re: [PAF-5] Date citation was made > ROTFL! And here I've been thinking it was for "when did I put this source > in here." [shakes head, wanders off, mumbling...] > > Cheryl > > Richard Rands wrote: > >> Hi Melanie, >> Richard Halliday's answer is a good one, but I'd like to add something >> that will explain the purpose behind the "Date Citation was made" field. >> >> As Richard pointed out, there is often a gap between the date of the >> event and the date the event was recorded. For example, it is not >> uncommon to get a certified birth certificate from a vital records office >> that is actually a certified document transcribed from some original >> documents that you do not have access to. In this case the gap between >> event and recording may be many years, and it is not uncommon for there >> to be errors in the transcription. Especially if the original document >> is in poor condition or the handwriting is difficult to read. You are >> essentially at the mercy of the accuracy of the transcriber. So if some >> discrepancy ever turns up, you would be able make some evaluation of the >> credibility of sources by how long the gap is between the event and the >> source. >> >> If you interview an aging ancestor to get birth dates that happened 75 >> years ago, unless you can verify the dates from other more reliable >> sources, you should enter the date your ancestor was interviewed so that >> it is apparent to those who look at your data in generations to come that >> there was such a gap. If a better source shows up later, they can >> account for the discrepancy. >> >> In many cases, you will not be able to determine a reliable citation >> date, so that field will often be left blank. I remember some years ago >> visiting a cemetery outside London looking for a lost relative. The >> caretaker was very helpful to point out a shed in the corner where they >> kept the lawn mover and where there was a stack of old burial records. I >> was very excited to find 400 years of old records stacked in a dank >> corner but was less excited to discover that the entire stack of records >> were written in the same handwriting, meaning that someone recently had >> transcribed an enormous amount of information many many years after the >> fact. That is a problem. >> >> Richard Rands >> >> >> At 08:46 AM 6/24/2005 -0600, Melanie Petersen wrote: >> >>> Under the citation detail on the source screen, there is a field for >>> "Date Citation was made." What exactly does this mean? A publication >>> date? >>> There is already a space for publication info. >>> >>> Thanks, >>> Melanie > > > ==== PAF-5-USERS Mailing List ==== > AVG Anti-Virus Users > Disable the 'Certify outgoing messages' option via the E-mail Scanner tab. > >