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