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Archiver > TMG > 2002-08 > 1028231192


From: "Cliff Soderback" <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Source standards -- was Mills Source for Memorial?
Date: Thu, 1 Aug 2002 12:46:37 -0700
References: <KBEEJNHPFAMCGLNKDFEFIELLEHAA.rdamon@beltronicsinc.com>


snip

> Yes, you have to evaluate the quality of the source and the data it
> provides. Private family memories of events long past are suspect,
> especially when the provider had no direct knowledge of the event but is
> just a relay, but diaries, journal, letters, bibles and other items
created
> at the time can be gold mines of accurate data. Public records are not
> immune to the need to evaluate the quality of the information. Even
primary
> records contain much secondary information.
>
> In conclusion, while the best source would be a publicly available one,
> don't throw out private sources out of hand.
>
> Richard Damon
> --


I believe the object is to prove or disprove the unverified information.
The danger is in misleading people in the future that the information is
fact,
when it has not been verified. If the information is only available in
private
material, how will it ever be verified for accuracy, if the information can
be cross referenced in a publicly available record then those in the future
can be assured of the accuracy. I believe this is the reason Lackey and
Mills
wrote their books. They both laid out systems to record sources, although
somewhat complex, the object was to make a record of where the information
came from. Their layout assumes that your source is verifiable and then you
record
where it can be verified. I really don't think either one of them implied
that
the source should be Aunt Martha's diary, with the repository as her top
dresser drawer.

Many times there is no way of ever verifying the information and it should
be
recorded as such. One never knows that maybe sometime in the future you
will be able to verify the information(this has happened to me many times).
My point is that information should not be implied as verified, when it is
not.

Cliff Soderback

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