I possess birth certificates, death certificates, graduation documents, draft cards, etc for several family members. What is the best way to document these in RM9? I have scanned all into .jpegs. Do I show myself as the source?
No, you are not the source. The document itself is the source. Do the best you can to identify the original repository for the source. If all else fails, you can describe yourself as the repository, as in Birth Certificate of John Doe, Certificate #1234, Texas, 1942, in personal collection of William Doe (or something like that). But it’s better to find out where the original repository is.
A repository is not itself a source, but it can and often is included in a citation for the source to help identify the source.
Some of the toughest sources to document are family bibles where all I have is a JPG of a couple of pages and I have no idea who now has possession of the bible. And more importantly, I don’t have the publishing information about the bible (date published, where published, etc.) that good citations for family bibles really should have.
I have the death certificate for my sister. Granted it shows the state, local number, EDR no, so I could create source using that info. Since I am in possession of the document would I show myself as the repository?
Yes.
Also, you could research where the death certificates for that state and year are actually stored and show that as the repository. That’s where someone else might need to go to obtain a copy of the document. I try to avoid using myself as a repository, but sometimes there seems no better choice.
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Thanks for your responses