FamilySearch Wiki:Sources of Information for a United States Record Type ArticleEdit This Page
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FamilySearch Wiki contributors who want to help with an article about a type of U.S. record (like census records) often ask "Where should I look for information on this type of record, and how will I know when the article is 'done'?" This article is an attempt to help with these issues.
Contents |
Major sources for information about U.S. records
The following sources are some of the major ones that may merit consideration in order to glean adequate information about a record type. The list isn't meant to be comprehensive or set in stone.
| Source | Delphi vote |
| Link to data sets or digitized images on Ancestry.com | |
| Linking wiki articles to Record Search data sets | |
| Link to data sets or digitized images on Heritage Quest Online | |
| Family History Library Internet Explorer favorites | |
| Statewide Indexes pages for each state on FamilySearch Internet | |
| Link the article's book references to Google Books | |
| Link the article's book references to BYU Digital Archives | |
| Link the article's book references to OCLC/Worldcat | |
| Link the article's book references to Family History Library Catalog | |
| Information compiled by the Describe team at FamilySearch for Record Search | |
| "Travelers" information compiled by Collection Management at FamilySearch. | |
| FamilySearch Source Guide | |
| FamilySearch Research Guidance | |
| U.S. GenWeb | |
| Google search specific to the record type to pick up any important sites not listed in other sources | |
| Cyndi's List page specific to the locality and record type | |
| Periodical Source Index (especially useful for counties before 1900) | |
| Major local repositories. (So when writing about Maryland Census records, you'd mention the state archives and the National Archives, which is close by.) | |
| Ancestry's The Source | |
| Ancestry's Printed Sources | |
| Everton's Handy Book | |
| Ancestry's Red Book | |
| Greenwood's The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy |
Proposed Processes
- Missionaries and community volunteers find information in the abovementioned sources and add that info. to the Discussion page of the articles in question. A good editor/writer/assembler can go in later and add this information into the article itself.
Success Criteria
The abovementioned sources are consulted to compile the information for the articles all the way to the state level. In addition:
- Internal and external links
- Good source notes
- Images
- See Also links
- Vetted headings
How to flag customers that an article has been thoroughly revised
- The History page isn't enough of an indicator of thoroughness because most users don't know about it.
- Can a "last edited on..." date be appended to the bottom of a page? (Even if it's possible, it's probably not enough.)
- Should the article contain some kind of icon that indicates it has been overhauled?
- This page was last modified on 3 June 2009, at 18:53.
- This page has been accessed 341 times.
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