8.5 Education and Other Place-Based Records
Knowing a specific place tied to the research subject can open many doors to records that may have been overlooked otherwise. If it is documented that a research subject attended a certain school, researching the school can give good historical context1 and also lead to unexpected records. Carefully consider opportunities the person had for elementary, secondary, and higher education. The same tactic can be applied to certain hospitals, employers, civic organizations, or other identifiable places. A little detective work and research on these topics could lead to discoveries that are more interesting than the dry details on a birth or death certificate. Also, depending on the place, there may be court records tied to the city, county, province, or state where information about divorces and adoptions may be filed.
CHICAGO STYLE:
In quotes include the title of the collection, end quotations then name of person or people with the event and date followed by the place, italicized title of the website, author or sponsor of the website if known, accessed date with month spelled out followed by numerical day, year, url.2
“Ireland, National School Registers, 1847-1933,” Corr Patrick in Laurell Hill School, Currin, Monaghan, Ireland, Ancestry, accessed February 3, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62023/records/123004?tid=&pid=&queryId=4e891713-ec38-4667bae4-119fa4a54e53&_phsrc=qeJ3729&_phstart=successSource.
EVIDENCE EXPLAINED:
Start with the name of the school, then the collection in quotation marks, add identifying information like page number, then the name of the research subject, followed by the year; describe the database, italicize the repository, (url : access date).3
Laurel Hill National School, “Ireland, National School Registers, 1847-1933,” p. 48, Corr Patrick, 1885; database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62023/records/123004?tid=pid=queryId=4e891713-ec38-4667-bae4-119fa4a54e53_phsrc=qeJ3729_phstart=successSource : accessed 3 February 2025).
SENSIBLE CITATION:
Name of the collection should be in quotation marks, followed by the person on date in place (if this is for a school include the name of the school, give all of the place details possible working from smallest jurisdiction to largest), describe the database, followed by any identifying information about the document, repository in italics, accessed on standardized date.
“Ireland, National School Registers, 1847-1933,” Corr Patrick in 1885 attending Laurell Hill School, Currin, Monaghan, Ireland, online database with images, page 48, register 127, line 3, image 36 of 57, Ancestry, accessed February 3, 2025.