I'm reasonably certain (since she has written about it many times on other mail lists to which I subscribe) that Mrs. Mills would say that we are dealing primarily with a "digital image," not a "database." She typically reserves the term "database" for, well, databases where someone has extracted info from another source.
This particular example is complicated by the fact it appears to be a "digital image" of a handwritten *index* made at some unknown point in time, probably not at the time of the burial. (Certainly, the earlier entries from the 1800s were not made at the time of the burials). I would want to make this clear in my citation (typically I'd do so by adding a comment to that effect in the Comments screen of the citation, and ticking it to print in reports. In an ideal world, I would also contact the cemetery to make sure that the index is all that remains; i.e. that there are no original records made at the time of the burial. For those who wonder why this "nit-pick" might be important: the purpose of source citations is not merely to document where we found the information so we (or someone else) can find it again, it is to allow us to make judgments about the quality and reliability of the evidence. If I see a citation that says only "database," I know that the conclusions are more prone to error than if the citation refers to a "digital image" of an original record. It's analogous to the difference between citing a printed book of abstracted marriage records, and citing a microfilm of the original marriage register. Connie Arizona --- On Tue, 5/25/10, RICHARD SCHULTHIES <[email protected]> wrote: > I believe it is a database, of > 'photocopies'. Each one has a coded name which is > search-able, as the census is. The indexing is done on the > name file with the attachments (photos) following along. It > doesn't matter if we disagree, I would still handle it in > Mills as a DB. This may be an instance of semantics. I wish > my family had a similar tool where they were at. > Congratulations on findng this helpful tool. > Rich in LA CA > Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
