Where did I find that census record?
Who gave me that photo of Uncle John?
I think I've looked at this book before?
What film number was that image of the probate record?
Any of those questions sound familiar? We spend hours researching our family history in libraries, at the courthouse and on-line. Searching and finding wonderful treasures...yet if we don't document where and when we got those items, we may never be able to trace our steps back to that place.
Citing those sources helps not only us, but all those who will follow us after we are gone. How many times have we wanted to revisit a source only to realize we did not cite where we got it. And how many times have we perhaps copied a page from a book and not the title and copyright pages only to realize we need to look at a page before or after to get more information.
The other part of that is to document the date we accessed it. If you copy a page from a book, write on the top, bottom or back the date you copied it and the library or place you looked at the book. I have gone back to a library to relook at a book, thinking I remembered where I had seen it only to find out-oops-it was another library not this one...
I have started also writing down the film number as well as the page number when accessing probate and other on-line sources that are "browse" only files. It has saved me so much time and irritation to be able to go back and look again at the source. I had found a guardian bond for an ancestor for a child. When I realized there were three children, not one child, under 21 years old, I wanted to go back and look again for the other two. I had not written down the film number, so had to "browse" again...yuk! You can believe when I found the film again, I wrote it down!
One last thing to think about. We are in a way, being selfish when we don't document our findings. We know how much work it took us, how many hours and dead ends we worked through. Why would we want our family or any other researcher to have to do that work again, when all we have to do is cite our sources. (Okay--getting off the soapbox now..)
[Here is how I do my "browse" documentations.
I copy the film number and page number, a note about the persons involved and then the Family Search citation, then add a copy of the film all in a Word document. This way when I need to add this item to my Family Tree Maker, (or whatever kind you use), I have the whole thing together, ready to add to the person in my database.]
Film 73 page 72 William George Washington Going admin of estate of James D Going 1898
"South Carolina Probate Records, Bound Volumes,
1671-1977," images, FamilySearch
(https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-19432-26194-13?cc=1919417&wc=M6NW-B29:210903701,211118801
: accessed 13 April 2015), Union > Returns book, 1881-1926 > image 73 of
443; citing Department of Archives and History, Columbia.
