* Individual as Source

[BevSmallwood]

Is there a way to link an Individual in the tree to the "author" of a letter, email, chat msg, etc.?

Side question:
in RootsMagic I could add weblinks where I recorded the person's website or pages on ancestry or tree on myheritage, etc.

How/where do you record contact info both current address/phone and online presence?

Thank you
Bev

[davidf]

A long while ago I created a "Contact Details" custom fact that I could add to individuals (usually distant cousins) in my tree.

If I was doing it now I would include a template in the notes field:

Address:
Telephone:
Email:
Web:
etc

=GetLabelledText() could then pull out the various items when required.

That may answer you last question, but does not answer the first.

In respect of an Individual as a source - possibly think of them as a repository of knowledge - the repository records have fields for contact details.
A letter from them might then be a source (as could your notes of a conversation with them) and you could attach the source to the relevant repository?

But how are you wanting to get this information out?

[BevSmallwood]

I like the "contact details" fact idea. That will help.

As for the source - I'm in the process of building sources and before I do it all wrong I thought I'd ask.

[BevSmallwood]

Here is my quandary.

I correspond back and forth with Jane Doe.

Do I create a separate source for

Doe, Jane - emails
Doe, Jane - ancestry messages
Doe, Jane - myheritage messages
Doe, Jane - Family Tree DNA messages
etc.

I have trouble keeping track of where and when and how I last conversed.

Do I create a source for Jane Doe and have all the details in citation details?

I've never kept research logs or correspondence logs, but ...
How have you solved this problem?

[BevSmallwood]

to continue -

Can I create a note shared by the correspondent and myself and detail the various points of contact in one note

or

create a separate shared note per conversation

Sadly, I had a lot of correspondence by email back in 1999 with a lady no longer with us. I didn't save them locally and AOL deleted them. Lesson learned.

[BevSmallwood]

If I was doing it now I would include a template in the notes field:

Address:
Telephone:
Email:
Web:
etc

=GetLabelledText() could then pull out the various items when required.

Does this work if it is in a table or just plain text?

[cwhermann]

I have several people in my tree that were also sources of information. The Source Record for this interview/transcript lists them as the author. Elizabeth Shawn Mills, provides several examples of interviews in Section 3.32 Interview Recording & Transcripts.
I then add details about the interview or transcript in the text from source at the citation level.

[BevSmallwood]

oooooo oooooh - I was just reviewing the new note functionality in version 7. I can put ANYTHING into a note. I can link a person or a source or an image or even a citation.

This opens a world of possibilities in terms of correspondence logs.

Please Please Please share how you are using this!

[jbtapscott]

I try not to over complicate things but do want to ensure I can always track back to underlying "information source".
Therefore, I have, say, my Mother and Father (now deceased) as separate Source records and record details (primarily, the date) from individual conversations in the Fact Citations.

In the case of emails, which often have only been a single email, or just a series over a short period of time, I create a separate Source for each as "Email from AB dated dd/mm/yyyy" or "Emails from CD dated March/April 2010" (I never include the sources full name). I don't copy the entire content of the email in to a notes field as often there is text that is not relevant. Instead, I save the email stream as a PDF and place it in my Media folder - that way I overcome the risk of emails being deleted because I change email provider, and it also allows speedier access if I need to review what was said (instead of having to open and search through an email archive file from 2004!).

[davidf]

If I was doing it now I would include a template in the notes field:
...
=GetLabelledText() could then pull out the various items when required.

Does this work if it is in a table or just plain text?

Well I'm on V6 so I don't know from experience, but I seem to remember someone remarking that =GetLabbelledText() could extract a row but not a cell.

See what others say!

[davidf]

...
As for the source - I'm in the process of building sources and before I do it all wrong I thought I'd ask.

I think we have to resist the idea that "it's wrong" if it is not the method we use.

The essential is that you store enough to unambiguously get back to the "thing" on which you are relying. Often this can be an unambiguous long-lasting reference.

If that thing is transitory "e.g. emails held in a system that the system provider may delete" you probably also want to ensure you have a local copy either as a transcript that you believe holds enough accurate detail or as pdf's or whatever of correspondence. I tend to scan letters to png or jpeg because FH handles them better than pdf (unless V7 can display pdfs where previously it had to be png or jpeg.)

[davidf]

to continue -

Can I create a note shared by the correspondent and myself and detail the various points of contact in one note

or

create a separate shared note per conversation

Sadly, I had a lot of correspondence by email back in 1999 with a lady no longer with us. I didn't save them locally and AOL deleted them. Lesson learned.

to continue - (from my other replies)

I'm not sure what you mean by "I create a note shared by the correspondent and myself" as that seems to imply shared users for FH and even via drop box that is a bit iffy as FH is not a multi-user program.

In terms of "what is your source", I think it helps if you consider "what is the thing" from which I get my information. Sources might then be:

• A single solitary letter
• An email exchange that flourished over a few weeks of discussion with lots of built in replies - so the whole exchange could be in a printed pdf
• "Correspondence/Communication with XXX" (analogous to a paper file of correspondence) where every exchange with that person, to and fro, over time, over different subjects, by letter/by email/by phone/by face-to-face discussion is thought of as a single source and "your where within source" (on the citation) specified "letter/email/what-ever to/from XXX dated yyyy-mm-dd". You could then attach an image of the specific bit of correspondence to the citation (not the source, not the fact). A transcript could go in the text from source or in a shared note if it is likely to be used multiple times or uses multiple correspondents (X forwards an email from Y - how does that file?)

What you choose is what you feel most happy with and what works for you.

[davidf]

...
I've never kept research logs or correspondence logs, but ...
How have you solved this problem?

This is a basic storage cataloguing problem almost separate from genealogy.

There are two broad ways:

1. Meaningful references and a meaningful hierarchy of folders. You need to be consistent with your naming and know what to do if something appears to want to be in two places (such as letter shared with you but from X to Y; store under X or store under Y? or copy it?). The structure of your storage is almost the "catalogue".
2. Meaningless references - often just a sequence number - (but you may choose to allocate a new range of numbers every year 2021/nnnnn then 2022/n) and everything goes in one folder (physical or computer) in sequence number but your catalogue is sufficiently strong that you can search the catalogue to unearth the reference number and location and hence get back to the original
3. Some form of hybrid recognising types of "thing" so
   • Books are on the bookshelf
   • Certificates are in the certificate folder
   • Correspondence is in a "letters" folder
   But they all potentially share a catalogue

The strong catalogue approach is a leap of faith because if the catalogue is not strong enough stuff does not so much "get lost" (you know it is in that huge folder of correspondence) but becomes "inaccessible" (you have to go through everything - if it is date order that may help but still)

I tend to find that "logs" are best kept in a single sequence by some form of date acquired order, but with a strong catalogue.

Catalogues can be almost anything that is searchable.

For years I used an old DOS program called Lotus Agenda (you maintained a hierarchy of categories and as you entered items (headline plus text) the words entered would auto-match against the categories. You could then free search or browse by category).

The nearest current equivalent is a private wordpress blog using the category hierarchy and tagging - but it is not automated like Agenda (but it's not DOS based!). You can privately host a wordpress.org blog if you want to keep it within your own eco-system.

For genealogy, FH Media Records are a basic catalogue of any media that you bring into your FH ecosystem (although unfortunately does not work cross-project). Zotero is a bibliographic catalogue. Calibre is a good means of cataloguing stuff you acquire as pdfs (and will interface with Zotero).

Cataloguing is a time consuming pain - but retrieval is often quick and pain free.
Not cataloguing is quick and easy - but retrieval is painful and sometimes near impossible.

The trick is to set up the catalogue sufficiently well when you start. So if you are recording scans of correspondence you probably need in your media record:

• Date
• Exact title (if any) - e.g. email subject line
• Author
• Main recipient
• Others on cc list or in the forwarding chain
• Subject or Category Tags
• Brief summary so that when you read it you think "that's the one!"
• Reference
• Storage of original and of scan

In FH media records much of this has to go into a structured note

[tatewise]

Bev, you can create a Source Citation for each communication.
The transcript Text From Source &/or the Note field in the Source record or the Citation itself can use the rich text features of FH V7 to add links to any records including Individuals and URL links (as you have already used elsewhere).

I have a custom Communication fact for sent messages and a custom Correspondence fact for received messages.
They cite the source described above.
It would be possible to add Fact Witnesses for the recipients/sender of each message.