Last Updated: 2024-05-06
Custon Source Templates
I have created custom templates for the sources to which I have large numbers of citations. Here are some examples.
Ancestry.com (data collections)
US Federal Census
Find a Grave
The above links display pages with details on the particular source template.
These template create “lumped” sources, meaning that in RM, only one Source is created, but many RM citations are created under the main source.
A “Split” source would put all of the information in the source record. A reference to each person in the collection would necessitate creation of another source record. Each source would probably have only one citation.
On each page, I describe the template by referring to the corresponding “.rmst” file that is created when exporting a template (available via download link above). The rmst file generated by RM is an xml file that contains all of the Source Template information. To describe each source template, I will display the relevant part of the rmst file. I simplified the rmst file by removing most XML end tags and empty elements. It is certainly no longer in correct XML syntax. I then use an example Source to show how I would fill in those fields.
The .rmst file, available as a link in each of the above links, that can be imported into RM using the Import button in the Source Template list window. Test the file first by importing to an new, empty RM database.
RM comes with a large selection of pre-made source templates, but for the above sources I preferred to create my own.
You may want to read this, a cross reference guide describing how the source template fields in the RM GUI correspond to the .rmst file XML elements.
Open questions
Usually, my citation format will have fields listing a person’s name and birth date. A question to consider is whether the name entered here is as it is written in the source or is as it is found in the RM database. A name transcribed incorrectly by Ancestry should probably be substitued with the actuall name in the record. However, the incorrect name may be required to locate the record in the Ancrstry database. I decided to use the name as it is in the RM database because the name as it is in the source record can be found in other fields of the citation. Use just the part of the name that is in the source.
The same question involves the birth date entered in the citation. The downside is that now conclusion information is contained in the source material.