Family Historian User Group

Hi all. I was wondering what source template members use for war and service records as none of those listed seem to be appropriate unless I've missed it somehow.
Regards Mike Davies

From the Essentials collection, I'd use Miscellaneous Unpublished Document.

Thanks I'll try this and see how i get on.

In the 'Descriptive Title' I'd probably include the Name of the person of interest, the fact that they are military records and possibly the date span covered.

It just seems curious to me that in view of the many WW1 burnt records and others online that there is no specific template for these records. I have in the past used the generic source template and the Military tab in the property box but with the advent of the source templates in V7 I'm anxious to use the template that others use for the sake of consistency.
Mike Davies

There are a lot of record types for which there is no standard template defined.

Remember, the template is an aide to recording the information you need to identifying the source concerned, so should record the minimum necessary to do that.

Ask yourself: what would a more custom template add to the objective of identifying the specific source beyond doubt? Even the Advanced Collection (based on Elizabeth Shown Mills' work) doesn't have a template specifically for Military Records.

Thanks. I’m just curious as to how others deal with these records
Mike Davies

Helen and I tend to approach stuff in a source record from different angles. Rightly or wrongly, I would characterise hers as a minimalist approach, viz:

the objective of identifying the specific source beyond doubt

I add to that, for my own purposes, a lot more analysis that says, in effect, "OK, now you've got the document, this is how it sits in relation to other sources." Helen will do this, but in a different place. I'll put the data relating to the analysis as items in the source record.

I should point out that strictly speaking I'm disqualified from answering your question since I don't use templates - instead I have skeleton source records for each record type that I can clone and then hack. At a first glance I have skeletons for at least:

• Medal Rolls (one source record per soldier);
• Muster Books & Pay Lists (this is a single document and the source record covers a whole unit);
• Service Records (one source record per soldier);
• Soldier's Effects (one source record per soldier - the original identification system is wholly different, plus it comes from the National Army Museum, not TNA, so the skeleton reminds me of this different identification structure);
• etc.

Having different skeleton sources allows me to remind myself of the different source-of-the-source information, e.g.

citing The National Archives of the UK "War Office: Soldiers’ Documents, First World War ‘Burnt Documents’ (Microfilm Copies)", (TNA reference WO363)

compared to:

citing "War Office: Campaign Medal and Award Rolls 1793-1949 (General Series)", The National Archives microfilm WO 100/1

or...

citing National Army Museum (Chelsea, London) "Soldiers' Effects Records, 1901-60" NAM Accession Number: 1991-02-333, Record Number Ranges: 999999-999999, Reference: paintedledgernumber

I assume that each skeleton source record would map over to a source template - but am prepared to be proven wrong (it may be that Enum lists might help).

So - you asked how I dealt with these records and that's what I do - albeit not in a source template fashion.

People who just have one or two military sources might be happy to handcraft each one - as I spent quite some time with my lot (not finished yet) I tried to get a lot more consistency in place, which having a field simply reading "Descriptive Title" doesn't help with. At least, not if you're like me and aiming to put analysis info into the source record.

Adrian's right -- I put analysis in the Source Note.

Thanks both lots to think about
Mike Davies

One more thing to think about ...

I generally design my own templates, as I don’t use either AS or the new FH7 DEA approach. I try to ensure that there is sufficient information between the automatic source title and the old generic Publication Info field to locate the source unambiguously (Helen’s definition).

That involves some duplication with the detailed Text from Source, but captures the main elements.

I already have a custom template for CWGC entries, with dedicated fields for service number and service branch/regiment etc. I will probably create new templates for common features such as enlistment and discharge, but haven’t decided for the various other details. At the moment, I’ve got quite a bit of downloaded material that I’ve not added to FH yet.

Thanks for this.
Mike Davies