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How do I create a census citation?
Sorry, I'm incredibly new at Zotero and have gone through the book and looked online. Not sure what subject to include a census record as? Saw online that it could be a web page---I know there are many different types of census citations, I'm looking for a standard citation from the Ancestry.com site or from FamilySearch of the U.S. Federal Census. Thanks for your help!
Hello amittle,
Welcome to the forums.
One of the first things you need to consider is are you looking for Zotero to automatically generate a citation for you or do you want Zotero to work as an asset manager? In other words, do you want it to help you keep track of the information you have gathered?
Having Zotero generate a genealogy citation automatically can be somewhat difficult. The reason is the complex nature of genealogy citations.
Many genealogists who use Zotero write their own citations and use Zotero as a kind of finding aid/catalog.
Personally, I use Document as my item type for a census record.
If you don't already have a copy of Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Miles, I would highly suggest you purchase a copy. EE is considered the "gold" standard for genealogy citations. She has an entire chapter on citing census records.
The basic format for US census records from 1950 forward is:
Census ID, Jurisdiction, Schedule, Civil Division, Page ID, Household ID, Persons of Interest; Followed by where you found it.
1850 U.S. Census, Brown County, Indiana, population schedule, Jackson, p. 426 (penned), dwelling 123, family 124, William Rude household; digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2009); citing NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 137.
There are some in genealogy who will leave off "digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2009);" Arguing that it is no longer necessary information. I will leave that to you to decide.
I would highly suggest that you read through several of the threads on the forums and think about how you want to use Zotero. A great one to start with is Workflow. https://genohistory.com/forum/topic/work-flow/?part=1
There are several different ways people are using Zotero and it may help you figure out what direction you want to go in. The last couple of pages of the post contain a number of images of how people are setting up Zotero to work for them.
I hope this helps and doesn't make it worse!
Ann C Gilchrest
