<Sources>

The <Sources> option can be used to easily add Defining Source Categories as defined by the Genealogy Proof Standard (including in many cases vendor specifc GEDCOM GPS fields) as well as additional categories defined by Gigatrees. Gigatrees also allows the use of the vendor specifc GEDCOM source type fields ( _TYPE and TYPE ), to set these categories directly. Family Historian, for instance, provides convienient support for this latter field, of which I personally make heavy use. Gigatrees uses source categories to help determine Reliability Assessments. The source category will be displayed on the source index page and on each source page, and should be provided so that you and anyone else who views your tree will be able to determine the source's quality as a glance. That is, a source's quality is directly proportional to its source category.

Genealogists who host their family trees online will also want to set privacy flags on sources that contain copyrighted or sensitive information and then enable the <Privatize> option. When set to private, the source will be displayed, but all quoted text, notes and photos will be stripped.

Example

In the following example, you can see how easy it is to provide source categories and/or privacy flags for a list of sources.

<Sources>
  <Source> <Id> S1 </Id> <Category> original, secondary </Category> </Source>
  <Source> <Id> S2 </Id> <Category> primary             </Category> </Source>
  <Source> <Id> S3 </Id> <Category> derivative          </Category> </Source>
  <Source> <Id> S4 </Id> <Category> abstract            </Category> </Source>
                                                              
  <Source> <Id> S3 </Id> <Private>  copyright           </Private>  </Source>
  <Source> <Id> S4 </Id> <Private>  sensitive           </Private>  </Source>
</Sources>

Options

Advanced Features

The <Sources> option can also be used to add new or modify existing sources. Generally, you would only do this to provide formatted citations for the source pages or formatted footnotes for a standalone blog. New sources can be added by providing a new unique record id. An existing source can be modified by referencing an existing GEDCOM source record id. For instance, you can use this option to add a source type to an existing source, add a reusable source citation template to an existing source, or to add source specific source citation fields to the source directly. When modifying existing sources, redefining a metadata element, such as the source title, will overwrite the existing value. Besides these very useful features, you can add a slew of new metadata fields that can be used by the source citation templates. The <Media> or <Gallery> options can be used to easily add images to new or existing source records.

Gigatrees provides a large list of source metadata fields below, however, the list provide does not include every possible metadata field described in Evidence Explained, so for specializations, it may be necessary to commandeer an element for another use. For instance if you are creating a Census template and need an element to indicate "enumeration district", you may want to use Collection since that element would not normally apply. Every element is a simple text string, so as long as your template matches your elements, the names of the elements do not really matter.

Source records can be referenced from any blog post or note field found in your genealogy database (including embedded notes) using Embedded References.

Example

<Sources>
  <MaxCitationQuoteLength>  200   </MaxCitationQuoteLength>
  <SpecialPageHandler>      false </SpecialPageHandler>
  <SpecialCitationHandler>  false </SpecialCitationHandler>
  <RemoveUnusedSources>     false </RemoveUnusedSources>
  
  <Source>
    <Id>         S1                                                       </Id>
    <Title>      1850 United States Census: Ohio, Hamilton, Anderson      </Title>
    <Category>   original, primary                                        </Category>
    <Format>     [database on-line]                                       </Format>
    <PubPlace>   Provo, UT, USA                                           </PubPlace>
    <Publisher>  Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.                            </Publisher>
    <PubDate>    2009                                                     </PubDate>
    <Details>    Images reproduced by FamilySearch                        </Details>
    <Repository> Ancestry.com                                             </Repository>
    <Original>   
      Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C. 
    </Original>
  </Source>
  
  <Source>
    <Id>         S2                                                              </Id>
    <Title>      Military Release of John Lovel                                  </Title>
    <Category>   transcript                                                      </Category>
    <Publisher>  ?                                                               </Publisher>
    <WebsiteUrl> https://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kycampbe/johnlovelsoldier.htm </WebsiteUrl>
    <Section>    Drawer 150                                                      </Section>
    <RecordDate> 1778 or 1779                                                    </RecordDate>
  </Source>
</Sources>

Options (all fields are optional)

Additional Options

Another method for adding source metadata is to use a source note ( NOTE ) record field. When a source note begins with a colon ( : ), Gigatrees will expect it to contain name:value pairs delimited by semicolons ( ; ). If the name matches one of the above listed Source options, it will be added as though it was configured as above. Unrecognized names can still be added, and will appear on the source page, but cannot be used in templates. Once the name:value pair has been added, it will be stripped from the source note record field. This method for adding source metadata may be useful for users who want to do so using their database editor, as source note record fields are generally easy to add or edit. It can be especially useful for Ancestry.com users who edit their source record directly as shown below.