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Copyright and Citing Sources

 

Both of these subjects are important, crucial, to genealogists yesterday and today. In this day of readily available data through cyberspace - Internet, Online services, etc.,  all levels of genealogists *should* familiarize themselves with copyright legalities and citing formats. If not, they run the risk of possible lawsuits, financial repercussions, and discredited reputation in genealogy circles.

Copyright: "the exclusive right, granted by law for a certain number of years, to make and dispose of and otherwise to control copies of a literary, musical, or artistic work... Protected by copyright..." 1

Many do not realize that a webpage on the Internet is a published work. Therefore, everything on a webpage is owned by the webmaster, owner/creator of the page. Some genealogy data published on a website may be in the public domain but how it is organized, presented and/or created is not. I'm sure all have seen the deluge of newly created personal genealogy homepages. Many of them have randomly collected text data from other websites, books, microfilms, On-line Services (CSi, AOL...), electronic databases, GEDCOMs, etc. without a thought they may be breaking copyright laws by publishing it on their website.

Dick Eastman in his weekly genealogy newsletter, Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, Vol. 3 No. 33 - August 17, 1998, had an article entitled, House Clears Copyright Act.  The article is on infringement of copyright today on the Internet and the newly passed Digital Millenun Copyright Act (HR 2282) by Congress:

The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter
and is copyright 1998 by Richard W. Eastman and Ancestry, Inc.
It is re-published here with the permission of the author.

"- House Clears Copyright Act

"The present U.S. Copyright Act was last revised in 1976, long before the online world became popular. I am sure that the lawmakers who framed the 1976 copyright laws never envisioned the issues created by the World Wide Web. As a result, many people have questioned what is legal or illegal online? Even worse, thousands of people have unknowingly violated copyright laws when creating Web pages or when offering databases online.

"Of course, this problem isn't limited just to genealogy Web pages. But genealogists have certainly had problems with the present laws. Corporations and private individuals alike have copied data, graphics and music without permission. Of course, doing that opens up the possibility of fines and lawsuits.

"I list new home pages at the end of most of these newsletters. When I spot check them, I am appalled at how many of them have graphics that obviously came from someplace else. Many have text information that obviously was extracted from genealogy books, I suspect some of these books still fall under copyright laws. And time and time again I hear music sound clips, almost all of them are obvious copyright violations. If your Web site has a .WAV file of "Born Free" or "The Wind Beneath My Wings" or any other song that still falls under copyright laws, you could face a significant fine. Think about it.

"This past week Congress passed legislation to safeguard copyrights for music, software, and written works on the Internet and to outlaw technologies that can crack devices protecting this property. The act has specific language to protect databases, with some exceptions. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act was approved by a House voice vote. The same act was passed by the Senate in May."

Other links to copyright information: 

SUL: Copyright & Fair Use
Copyright Issues
USGenWeb Project - Copyright

Cite, Cited, Citing:"...to quote (a passage, book, author, etc.), esp. as an authority..." 2

Source: "...anything or place from which something comes, arises, or is obtained; origin ... a book, statement, person, etc., supplying information..." 3

Creditable genealogists, whether professional or hobbyist, document (cite sources for) their data completely and accurately. Completely means every event/tag for every person. Events/tags range from vital information such as births, marriages and deaths to such events as military, land records, etc. These events contain names, dates and locations.

Accurately in this context means using the correct form for the source cited. Sources range from Vital Records; Church Records; Land Records; Probate Records; Burial Records; Secondary sources (family genealogies, town histories, etc.);  Census Records; AF; IGI; Internet databases; Web pages; E-Mail; genealogy mail lists; Bible entries to Oral interviews, etc.

Why cite?

  1. Other genealogists need to know exactly where information came from so they can:
    Check out the source(s) for themselves.
    (No one should take the word of another without checking out the source for themselves. We are all human and as such do err in translations and transcriptions as well as the proverbial typos.)
    To better evaluate the data.
    (Sources come in at least 3 grades: Primary (official vital records); Secondary (genealogies, histories, webpages, etc... whose sources are Primary); Tertiary (genealogies, histories, web... whose sources are Secondary). Then there are the sources that do not document/cite their sources. Many family genealogies, histories, AF, webpages, etc... fall into this category. These types of sources should only be used for leads/clues - not for documentation.)
  2. To possibly save one from legal entanglements.
    (If one does not cite their sources then they are plagiarizing.)

    The form of a cite is very important. The reader should be able to tell if your source is a book, newspaper, journal, municipal vital record, web page, oral communication, etc.  If you did not personally research the source then do not cite the source. Cite the person, website, etc... from whence you got the data, date you got the data, and include what their source was.

  3. It's unethical not to. Very poor form to take credit for researching a source if one *did not* look at/research the source personally.

For many years Lackey was the guide followed by genealogists:

Lackey, Richard S., F.A.S.G., Cite Your Sources (New Orleans: Polyanthos, Inc., 1980).

With the proliferation of home computers, easy access to the Internet and Online Services, and explosion of electronic sources, a more up-to-date guide was desperately needed. Last year Elizabeth S. Mills answered the call with her highly acclaimed book:

Mills, Elizabeth S., Evidence: Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian (Baltimore: Genealogy Publishing Co., 1997).

Both these books should be in every genealogist's library. They may be purchased from many genealogy book dealers and publishers such as:

N.E.H.G.S.
Genealogical Publishing Company

Links to citation information:
The USGenWeb Project - Copyright Information
Cyndi's List - Citing Sources
Columbia University Guide to Online Style
Duke University - Citing Sources

Endnotes:
  1. Jess Stein, ed., The Random House Dictionary of the English Language  (NY: Random House, Inc., 1971), p.  323
  2. Ibid., p. 269.
  3. Ibid., p. 1360.

My Genealogy website - sgt:
Copyright and Citing Sources - sgt commenced 17 August 1998.
This site created and maintained by Susan G. Taylor.
Last Updated:  13-Jun-2008

Copyright © 1998- 2008 by Susan Gascoigne Taylor

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