“Sources are original or derivative.”

It is on the inside front cover of the 3rd edition of Elizabeth Shown Mill’s  Evidence Explained. The statement is made in numerous other methodology manuals as well (including the shorter Genealogical Standards Manual–which does not include the citation references that Mills book does). And yet the use of the word “or” suggests a clean-cut binary world where sources can clearly be put into one category or the other-but not both and not in between. When  the word “or” is used in most writing the intent is the exclusive or, not the inclusive one. Besides there is no such word as “origivative” which would indicate a combination of the two.

Like many situations there is theory and there is reality.

Reality One is that there’s some gray area here.

Reality Two is that it does not really matter if you classify a source as original or derivative. What matters is that the difference between the two concepts is understood and that the researcher is aware of how the source being used was created and how that source came to be in the researcher’s possession. Those two key elements (creation and provenance) are necessary for the complete and accurate evaluation of the source and the statements that it contains. The classification of original versus derivative can be a little gray.

My mother’s obituary appeared on the website for the funeral home a few days after her death in April of 2015. It appeared in other local newspapers within one week of her death, including the Hancock County [Illinois]  Journal Pilot;  The Quincy Herald-Whig;the Keokuk, Iowa, Daily-Gate City. One could get bogged down trying to determine which is the “original” and which is the derivative. They are all pretty much the same text (I’ve not compared them to be honest) and are all most likely copied from the obituary that was published on the funeral home website. That would make the funeral home obituary the “original.” The others, since they were “copied” would be the derivative.

Or would they?

And is the obituary on the funeral home website really the “original” obituary?

Not really.

Somewhere I had the actual  original obituary for Mom. I know I had the original obituary because I wrote it early one morning in the nursing home when she could sleep and I could not. That obituary (with a few corrections–including her correct graduation year) was what was given to the funeral director. Some could argue that the unpublished obituary is not really an obituary at all, but that misses the point that sometimes what we think is the original may not be the original.

What is important about the source is that the researcher clearly indicate:

how the source being used was created and how that source came to be in the researcher’s possession

Some of that information is a part of the citation for the source. The remainder of that information should be in the researcher’s analysis of the information used from that source. If one is forced to classify a source as original or derivative because one’s life or death depends on it, remember:

• the first time it was written down-it’s original
• what’s not original is said to be derivative

One could spend hours trying to decide whether a color photograph of an actual deed is original or derivative. That’s wasted time. Explain how you got the image and go on with your research carefully evaluating and interpreting the information contained in the document. You should explain if you took a photograph of the actual paper deed that was signed by the grantor or the record copy at the courthouse (there is a difference).  That will be enough. Anyone with an interest in spending hours determining whether the image is original or derivative can determine that from your detailed explanation.

• The paper deed signed by the grantor is the original deed.
• The record copy at the courthouse is a derivative copy, but it is the original record copy.
• The microfilm copy of the courthouse copy of the deed is a derivative copy.

The key is that you think about the sources you obtain, that you think about how those sources were created, that you think about how many steps there were before that source came to you, and that you think about the reliability of the probable informants.

Because some of us almost put graduation years for our mother in obituaries without double checking them first.