Evidence And Sources - banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots GitHub Wiki

Evidence & Source Management

Charted Roots provides tools for managing genealogical sources and evidence, helping you document your research with proper citations and track which ancestors are well-documented.

Table of Contents

Overview

Charted Roots' source management system is inspired by the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS), the methodology used by professional genealogists to build reliable family histories. The GPS emphasizes:

  • Reasonably exhaustive research - Thoroughly search relevant sources before drawing conclusions
  • Complete and accurate citations - Document where evidence comes from so others can verify
  • Analysis and correlation - Evaluate each source's quality and how evidence fits together
  • Resolution of conflicts - Address contradictory evidence rather than ignoring it
  • Written conclusions - Document your reasoning in proof summaries

While Charted Roots doesn't enforce strict GPS compliance, the source management features are designed to support these practices. Source notes capture citation details, quality classifications help you evaluate evidence, and the Research Gaps Report identifies where more research is needed.

To track overall research progress toward GPS-compliant documentation, you can use the research_level property on person notes. This 0-6 scale (based on Yvette Hoitink's "Six Levels of Ancestral Profiles") helps you identify which ancestors need more work.

The Evidence & Source Management features enable you to:

  • Create source notes documenting evidence (census records, vital records, photos, etc.)
  • Link sources to person notes for proper citation
  • Display source indicators on generated trees showing research quality
  • Manage sources with an Obsidian Bases template

Source Notes

Source notes are structured markdown files that document your evidence. They use flat frontmatter properties following Obsidian best practices.

⚠️ Nested Properties and Obsidian Compatibility

Charted Roots uses nested YAML structures for certain advanced features (like the Evidence Service). Obsidian's property panel doesn't support nested properties and will show "Type mismatch" warnings for them.

Important: Do not click "update" on any property showing a type mismatch warning, as this will corrupt the data by converting it to "[object Object]" strings.

To view or edit nested properties, use Source mode (Settings β†’ Editor β†’ Properties in document β†’ Source) instead of the property panel.

Creating a Source Note

Manual creation:

Create a new markdown file with this frontmatter structure:

---
cr_type: source
cr_id: source-1900-census-smith
title: "1900 US Federal Census - Smith Family"
source_type: census
source_date: "1900-06-01"
source_date_accessed: "2024-03-15"
source_repository: "Ancestry.com"
source_repository_url: "https://www.ancestry.com/..."
collection: "1900 United States Federal Census"
location: "New York, Kings County, Brooklyn"
media:
  - "[attachments/Census 1900 Smith p1.jpg](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/attachments/Census-1900-Smith-p1.jpg)"
  - "[attachments/Census 1900 Smith p2.jpg](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/attachments/Census-1900-Smith-p2.jpg)"
confidence: high
---

# 1900 US Federal Census - Smith Family

## Transcription

Line 42: John Smith, Head, Male, White, Age 35, Married...

## Research Notes

This census confirms John's occupation as "carpenter" and lists 4 children.

Using Bases:

  1. Right-click on a folder
  2. Select "New sources base from template"
  3. Use the table interface to create and edit sources

Using the Import Wizard:

See Bulk Source Image Import below for importing multiple images at once.

Source Note Properties

Property Type Required Description
cr_type string Yes Always "source"
cr_id string Yes Unique identifier
title string Yes Descriptive title
source_type enum Yes Type of source (see below)
source_date string No Date of the original document
source_date_accessed string No When source was accessed
source_repository string No Where source is held (archive, website)
source_repository_url string No URL to online source
collection string No Collection or record group name
location string No Geographic location of record
media array No Array of media file wikilinks
confidence enum No high, medium, low, unknown
source_quality enum No primary, secondary, derivative
source_classification enum No original, derivative, authored_narrative
information_classification enum No primary, secondary, undetermined
evidence_classification enum No direct, indirect, negative

Source Types

Type Description
census Population census records
vital_record Birth, death, marriage certificates
church_record Baptism, marriage, burial records
photograph Photographs and portraits
correspondence Letters, emails, postcards
newspaper Newspaper articles
obituary Death notices, memorial articles
military_record Service records, draft cards, pensions
immigration Ship manifests, naturalization, passports
court_record Legal proceedings, divorces
land_record Property records, deeds
will Wills
probate Estate inventories
oral_history Interviews, recordings

Linking Sources to People

Source notes link to person notes using wikilinks in the note body. When a source note contains a link like [John Smith](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/John-Smith), Charted Roots detects this connection automatically.

Example source note linking to people:

---
cr_type: source
title: "1900 Census - Smith Household"
source_type: census
---

# 1900 Census - Smith Household

## People in this record

- [John Smith](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/John-Smith) - Head of household
- [Mary Smith](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/Mary-Smith) - Wife
- [Robert Smith](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/Robert-Smith) - Son

## Transcription
...

Charted Roots uses Obsidian's resolvedLinks to detect these connections, so any valid wikilink from a source to a person note will be counted.

Person Roles in Sources

Genealogical source documents often name multiple people in different capacitiesβ€”a death certificate names the deceased, informant, spouse, parents, and officials. Person roles let you track these relationships to support FAN (Friends, Associates, Neighbors) network research and assess information quality.

Role Categories

Charted Roots recognizes seven canonical role categories:

Role Property Description Examples
principals Subject(s) of the document Deceased, testator, groom/bride
witnesses Named witnesses Signing witnesses, event witnesses
informants Person providing information Death certificate informant
officials Authority figures Clerks, judges, officiants, physicians
enslaved_individuals Persons listed as property Named in wills, inventories, appraisements
family Family members of principals Named relatives
others Catch-all Any role not fitting above

Adding Roles via YAML

Role entries use wikilink syntax with optional display text for role details:

---
cr_type: source
source_type: probate
title: "Estate Inventory of John Smith Sr."
date: 1817-03-15

principals:
  - "[John Smith Sr.](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/John-Smith-Sr.-(Decedent))"
officials:
  - "[Thomas Brown](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/Thomas-Brown-(Administrator))"
  - "[James Wilson](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/James-Wilson-(Appraiser))"
enslaved_individuals:
  - "[Mary](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/Mary)"
  - "[Peter](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/Peter)"
family:
  - "[John Smith Jr.](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/John-Smith-Jr.-(Heir))"
---

The format is "[Link Target](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/Display-Name-(Role-Details))". The role details in parentheses are optional and extracted for display in reports.

Adding Roles via Modal

When creating or editing a source note via the Create/Edit Source modal:

  1. Expand the Person roles section
  2. Click Add person
  3. Select a person from the picker
  4. Choose a role category
  5. Optionally add role details (e.g., "Administrator", "Heir")
  6. Click Add

The modal writes the role to the appropriate frontmatter array automatically.

Querying by Role

DataView example β€” Find all sources where a person was a witness:

TABLE title, date
FROM "Sources"
WHERE contains(witnesses, "[John Smith](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/John-Smith)")

Bases filter β€” In an Obsidian Base, filter sources by role:

  • Filter: witnesses contains [John Smith](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/John-Smith)
  • Or use formula: contains(witnesses, "John Smith")

Sources by Role report β€” Generate a report from the Control Center showing all sources where a person appears by role. See Statistics & Reports for details.

Dynamic block β€” Display roles in a source note using the charted-roots-source-roles block. See Dynamic Note Content for details.

Source Indicators on Trees

When generating family trees, you can display badges showing how many sources link to each person. This provides at-a-glance research quality visibility.

Enabling Source Indicators

  1. Go to Settings > Charted Roots > Canvas styling
  2. Enable "Show source indicators"
  3. Generate or regenerate a family tree

How Indicators Appear

  • Nodes show badges like "πŸ“Ž 3" indicating 3 linked sources
  • Green badges (3+ sources): Well-documented person
  • Yellow badges (1-2 sources): Some documentation
  • No badge: No sources linked yet

How It Works

During tree generation, Charted Roots:

  1. Scans all notes with cr_type: source frontmatter
  2. Counts how many link to each person note
  3. Adds small text nodes near person nodes showing the count

This helps you identify which ancestors need more research at a glance.

Fact-Level Source Tracking

While source indicators show how many sources link to a person, fact-level source tracking goes deeper β€” it records which specific facts about a person have source citations. This aligns with the GPS principle that each key claim should be supported by evidence.

When enabled, person notes display a coverage score (e.g., "3/10 facts sourced") in the Control Center's Data Quality card and the Entity Profile View.

Enabling Fact-Level Tracking

  1. Go to Settings > Charted Roots > Advanced > Research tools
  2. Enable "Enable fact-level source tracking"

Adding Sourced Facts

Add sourced_* properties to a person note's frontmatter, listing the source notes that support each fact as wikilink arrays:

sourced_birth_date:
  - "[Birth Certificate - John Smith](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/Birth-Certificate---John-Smith)"
  - "[1870 Census - Smith Family](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/1870-Census---Smith-Family)"
sourced_birth_place:
  - "[Birth Certificate - John Smith](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/Birth-Certificate---John-Smith)"
sourced_parents:
  - "[1870 Census - Smith Family](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/1870-Census---Smith-Family)"
sourced_occupation:
  - "[1900 Census - Smith Family](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/1900-Census---Smith-Family)"

Each property is a simple array of source wikilinks, compatible with Obsidian's property panel.

Important distinctions:

  • A missing property means the fact hasn't been tracked yet
  • An empty array (sourced_birth_date: []) means the fact is explicitly marked as unsourced

Trackable Facts

There are 10 fact types you can track:

Property Description
sourced_birth_date Sources for date of birth
sourced_birth_place Sources for location of birth
sourced_death_date Sources for date of death
sourced_death_place Sources for location of death
sourced_parents Sources for parent relationships
sourced_spouse Sources for spouse relationships
sourced_marriage_date Sources for date of marriage
sourced_marriage_place Sources for location of marriage
sourced_occupation Sources for occupation
sourced_residence Sources for residence locations

Coverage Threshold

Not every person will have all 10 facts applicable (e.g., an ancestor who never married won't have marriage facts). The fact coverage threshold setting controls how many sourced facts count as "100% coverage."

  • Go to Settings > Charted Roots > Advanced > Research tools > Fact coverage threshold
  • Default: 6 β€” sourcing 6 of the 10 facts gives 100% coverage
  • Adjust based on your research goals

Where Coverage Appears

Once you add sourced_* properties, coverage data shows up in several places:

  • Control Center > Data Quality β€” Research gaps card showing unsourced and weakly sourced facts across your vault, grouped by fact type
  • Entity Profile View β€” Data quality section showing coverage percentage for the current person
  • Source indicators on trees β€” When coverage display is enabled, tree badges show the coverage percentage alongside the source count
  • Reports β€” Source summary and research gaps reports include fact coverage statistics

Citation Notes

Citation notes provide per-citation metadata β€” linking a specific source to a specific fact on a person with page references and quality assessments. Each citation note represents one citation occurrence, mapping 1:1 to GEDCOM's SOUR blocks with PAGE and QUAY sub-tags.

Citation Note Properties

Property Description Example
cr_type Always citation citation
cr_id Auto-generated unique ID abc-123-def-456
source Wikilink to the source note "[Census 1850](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/Census-1850)"
subject Wikilink to the person or event note "[John Smith](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/John-Smith)"
fact The frontmatter property being supported birth_date
page Page, entry, or location within the source p. 42, entry 15
quality Quality assessment (0–3, GEDCOM QUAY) 3

Quality values:

  • 0 β€” Unreliable
  • 1 β€” Questionable
  • 2 β€” Secondary evidence
  • 3 β€” Primary evidence

Creating Citations

Manually: Open a person note and run "Charted Roots: Add citation to current note" from the command palette or the command menu (Edit > Add citation). Select a source, choose the fact being cited, and optionally enter a page reference and quality rating.

On GEDCOM import: Citation notes are automatically generated from SOUR blocks that contain PAGE or QUAY metadata. Person notes are updated with a citations array linking to the generated notes.

Where Citations Appear

  • Entity Profile View β€” person profiles show a "Citations" section (after Sources) listing citations grouped by source, with fact labels, page references, and color-coded quality badges
  • GEDCOM export β€” citation metadata is written back as PAGE and QUAY sub-tags under SOUR references
  • Gramps export β€” citation metadata is written as spage and confidence elements within sourceref tags

Citation Folder

Citation notes are stored in the Citations folder (default: Charted Roots/Citations). This is configurable in Settings > Folders.

Syncing Citations and Sourced Fields

Citation notes and sourced_* frontmatter fields can be synced in both directions:

From citations to sourced fields:

  • "Sync sourced fields from citation notes (current note)" β€” reads citation notes for the current person and populates sourced_* properties
  • "Sync sourced fields from citation notes (all people)" β€” does the same for every person in the vault

From sourced fields to citations:

  • "Generate citation notes from sourced fields (current note)" β€” creates citation notes from existing sourced_* data, deduplicating to avoid creating duplicates

All three commands are available via the command palette. This provides a migration path for users with existing sourced_* fields who want to adopt citation notes, or for users who want to keep both systems in sync.

Sources Bases Template

Charted Roots includes a pre-configured Obsidian Bases template for managing sources in a spreadsheet-like interface.

Creating a Sources Base

  1. Right-click on a folder containing source notes
  2. Select "New sources base from template"
  3. A .base file is created with pre-configured views

Included Views

View Description
All Sources Complete inventory
By Type Grouped by source_type
By Repository Grouped by repository
By Confidence Grouped by confidence level
Vital Records Filtered to vital_record type
Census Records Filtered to census type
Church Records Filtered to church/parish records
Legal Documents Wills, probate, land, court records
Military Records Filtered to military_record type
Photos & Media Photographs and newspapers
High Confidence Only high-confidence sources
With Media Sources that have media attached
Missing Media Sources without media
By Date Sorted by document date
Recently Accessed Sorted by access date
By Collection Grouped by collection name
By Location Grouped by location
Media Gallery Cards view with media as cover image

Best Practices

Organizing Source Notes

  • One source per document: Create separate notes for each distinct record
  • Reuse for families: A census image can link to multiple family members
  • Use descriptive titles: Include year, type, and key names
  • Add transcriptions: Keep the original text in the note body

Naming Conventions

Consider consistent naming for source notes:

  • 1900 Census - Smith Family - Brooklyn NY
  • Birth Certificate - John Smith - 1865
  • Marriage License - Smith-Jones - 1890

Page-Level Naming for Multi-Page Records

For census records, tax rolls, and other records where you capture multiple pages, consider naming by enumeration district (ED) and page number rather than by surname. This allows you to:

  • Link multiple families or individuals to the same page
  • Capture pages before and after your target for FAN (Friends, Associates, Neighbors) research
  • Document enslaved ancestor research where multiple individuals appear on the same schedule

Pattern: YYYY-recordType_State_County_Locality-ED-p

Examples:

  • 1880-census_SC_Chester_Baton-Rouge-ED37-p60
  • 1850-slave-schedule_VA_Henrico-ED12-p3
  • 1870-census_TN_Davidson_Nashville-ED45-p22

This approach is especially valuable for:

  • Enslaved ancestor research β€” Slave schedules and property records often need full-page context
  • FAN cluster analysis β€” Neighbors and associates appear on adjacent enumeration pages
  • Urban research β€” Multiple families of interest may appear on the same tenement page

Media Organization

For source media files (images, PDFs):

  • Store in a dedicated attachments folder
  • Use descriptive filenames: 1900-census-smith-brooklyn-p1.jpg
  • Link via the media property in frontmatter

Bulk Source Image Import

The Import Source Images wizard helps you bulk-import a folder of scanned documents or photos, automatically parsing filenames to extract metadata and creating source notes.

Opening the Wizard

  1. Open Control Center (ribbon icon or command palette)
  2. Go to the Sources tab
  3. Click Import next to "Import source images"

Wizard Steps

Step 1: Select Folder

Choose the vault folder containing your source images.

Filter options:

  • Exclude thumbnails - Skips files starting with thumb_ or thumbnail_
  • Exclude non-images - Skips .txt, .doc, .pdf, and other non-image files

The wizard shows a count of how many files will be processed.

Step 2: Rename Files (Optional)

Toggle Standardize filenames to rename files to a consistent format based on parsed metadata:

surname_given_byyyy_type_yyyy_location.ext

Example: smith_john_b1865_census_1900_usa_ny.jpg

The table shows:

  • Current name - Original filename
  • Proposed name - Suggested standardized name (editable)

Conflicts are highlighted if two files would have the same name. You can edit proposed names to resolve conflicts.

Step 3: Review Parsed Data

Review and edit the metadata extracted from filenames:

Column Description
Filename Final filename (after optional renaming)
Surnames Extracted family names
Year Record year (census year, document date)
Type Source type (census, vital_record, etc.)
Location Extracted place information
Multi-part Groups multi-page documents together
Confidence Parser confidence (green/yellow/red dot)

Editable fields: Click any cell in Surnames, Year, Type, or Location to correct the parsed value.

Multi-part documents: Files with part indicators (_p1, _p2, _a, _b, _page1, etc.) are automatically grouped. All pages in a group will be linked to the same source note.

Confidence indicators:

  • 🟒 High - Extracted surname + type + year
  • 🟑 Medium - Extracted surname + (type OR year)
  • πŸ”΄ Low - Minimal information extracted

Step 4: Configure

Set where source notes will be created:

  • Source notes folder - Destination folder for new source notes (default: your Sources folder from settings)

Import summary shows:

  • Total source notes to create
  • Total images to link
  • Multi-part groups detected

Step 5: Execute

Click Start import to begin. The wizard:

  1. Renames files (if enabled)
  2. Creates source notes with parsed metadata
  3. Links images via media properties
  4. Shows progress and results

Results display:

  • Number of sources created
  • Number of images linked
  • Log of each created source note

Filename Parsing

The parser recognizes common genealogy naming patterns:

Pattern Example Extracted
surname_year_type smith_1900_census.jpg Smith, 1900, census
surname_given_byear_type smith_john_b1865_birth.jpg Smith, John, b.1865, vital_record
surname_year_place_type smith_1920_usa_ny_census.jpg Smith, 1920, USA/NY, census
surname_given_type_year smith-john-census-1900.jpg Smith, John, 1900, census
Descriptive Birth Certificate - John Smith 1865.jpg Smith, John, 1865, vital_record

Recognized type keywords:

  • Census: census, cens
  • Vital records: birth, death, marriage, divorce
  • Military: draft, wwi, wwii, military, civil_war
  • Immigration: passenger, immigration, naturalization, pas_list
  • Other: obit, obituary, will, probate, cemetery, gravestone

Multi-part indicators:

  • _p1, _p2, _p3 (page numbers)
  • _a, _b, _c (letters)
  • _01, _02 (numbered)
  • _page1, _page2
  • _part1, _partA

Tips for Best Results

Before importing:

  1. Organize images in a dedicated folder
  2. Rename consistently if possible - the parser works best with surname_year_type patterns
  3. Remove duplicates - the wizard doesn't detect duplicate images

Filename best practices:

thornwood_george_b1843_census_1870_usa_tn.jpg
calloway_1920_usa_ok_census_p1.jpg
smith_john_birth_1865.jpg

After importing:

  1. Review created source notes
  2. Add transcriptions and research notes
  3. Link sources to person notes by adding wikilinks

Link Media to Existing Sources

The Link Media to Sources wizard helps you attach images to source notes that don't already have media. This is useful when you have existing source notes (e.g., from GEDCOM import) and images that should be linked to them.

Opening the Wizard

  1. Open Control Center (ribbon icon or command palette)
  2. Go to the Sources tab
  3. Click Link next to "Link media to sources"

Wizard Steps

Step 1: Select Folder

Choose the vault folder containing images to link. The wizard only shows source notes without media as potential targets.

A preview shows:

  • Number of images found in the folder
  • Number of source notes without media available to link

Step 2: Link Images to Sources

For each image, select which source note to attach it to.

Smart suggestions: The wizard analyzes filenames and scores potential matches based on:

  • Surname matches (e.g., "smith" in filename matches "Smith Family Census")
  • Year matches (e.g., "1900" in filename matches source with 1900 date)
  • Type keywords (e.g., "census" in filename matches census source type)
  • Location matches (e.g., "chicago" in filename matches source location)

UI indicators:

  • Confidence dots - 🟒 High (strong match), 🟑 Medium, 🟠 Low, βšͺ None
  • Auto-selection - Top suggestion is pre-selected when available
  • "+N more" badge - Shows when alternative suggestions exist
  • Yellow highlighting - Rows without suggestions need manual selection
  • Summary - Shows "X auto-matched, Y need manual selection"

Dropdown options:

  • Suggestions group - Top matches with match reasons shown
  • All sources group - Complete list for manual selection

Step 3: Review

Review your selections before applying:

  • Summary of images to link and sources to update
  • List of all image β†’ source mappings

Step 4: Execute

Click Link media to apply changes. The wizard:

  1. Updates each source note's frontmatter with media wikilinks
  2. Adds images to the media array property
  3. Shows progress and results

Tips for Best Results

Naming images: Use consistent naming that includes clues:

  • smith_census_1900.jpg β†’ matches sources with "Smith", "census", "1900"
  • henderson_obituary_1945.jpg β†’ matches obituary sources with "Henderson", "1945"

Manual selection: For images with generic names like Document (3).jpg or Voice Memo 2020-03-15.jpg, you'll need to manually select the correct source from the dropdown.

Multiple images per source: You can link multiple images to the same source note. Each additional image is appended to the media array.

Confidence Levels

Use confidence to track source reliability:

Level When to Use
high Original records, official documents
medium Secondary sources, family records
low Unverified claims, conflicting information
unknown Not yet evaluated

Transcription Tips

Charted Roots doesn't include built-in OCR, but you can transcribe documents using external tools:

Tool Best For
Transkribus Historical handwriting
FamilySearch Indexing Already indexed records
Claude/GPT-4 General image transcription
Manual transcription Difficult handwriting

Workflow

  1. Create source note with metadata and media link
  2. Open image in external tool or AI chat
  3. Paste transcription into source note body
  4. Add research notes interpreting the transcription

Source Classification (Mills)

Charted Roots supports the three-axis classification system from Elizabeth Shown Mills' Evidence Explained. These optional properties provide finer-grained analysis than the basic source_quality property, and are available in the Create Source modal under the collapsible "Source classification (Mills)" section.

The three axes

Axis Property Question Values
Source source_classification What is the document? original, derivative, authored_narrative
Information information_classification Who provided the information? primary, secondary, undetermined
Evidence evidence_classification How does it relate to the research question? direct, indirect, negative

These are independent of each other β€” the same document can be an original source providing secondary information that serves as indirect evidence.

Example

A death certificate is typically:

  • Source: Original (the document itself is a first recording)
  • Information: Mixed β€” the date and place of death are primary (recorded by the attending physician), but the parents' names are secondary (reported by an informant from memory)
  • Evidence: Direct for the death event, indirect for the parents' identities

How it integrates

When information_classification is set on a source, the evidence analysis system uses it instead of source_quality to determine whether a source counts as "primary" or "secondary" in the Research Gaps Report and proof summaries. Sources with only source_quality continue to work as before.

The Source Summary and Sources by Role reports conditionally display classification columns when any source has Mills data.

For detailed property documentation, see Frontmatter Reference β€” Source Classification.

Source Hierarchies

Multi-document record groups β€” such as probate packets, census pages, or multi-volume collections β€” can be modeled using parent-child relationships between source notes.

Setting up a hierarchy

Add source_parent and source_parent_id to a child source note's frontmatter:

---
cr_type: source
cr_id: appraisement-001
title: "Hardwick Appraisement, April 1863"
source_type: probate
source_parent: "[Hardwick Probate Packet](/banisterious/obsidian-charted-roots/wiki/Hardwick-Probate-Packet)"
source_parent_id: hardwick-packet-001
---

You can also set the parent source in the Create source or Edit source modal under Additional details > Parent source, which provides autocomplete from existing source notes.

Viewing hierarchies

The Entity Profile View for source notes displays hierarchy information:

  • Parent source β€” On child source profiles, a link to the parent source appears at the top
  • Child documents β€” On parent source profiles, all child sources are listed with type badge, title, and date
  • Related documents β€” On child source profiles, sibling sources (other children of the same parent) are shown
  • Source tree β€” On parent source profiles, a collapsible tree visualization shows the full hierarchy

Filtering by hierarchy

The Sources tab in Control Center includes hierarchy-aware filters:

  • Has parent (child sources) β€” Show only sources that have a parent
  • No parent (top-level) β€” Show only sources without a parent
  • Children of [source] β€” Show only children of a specific parent source

Further Reading

The source classification and citation practices in Charted Roots are informed by established genealogical methodology:

  • Elizabeth Shown Mills, Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace (3rd ed., 2015) - The definitive guide to genealogical citation, introducing the distinction between sources, information, and evidence
  • Board for Certification of Genealogists, Genealogy Standards (2nd ed., 2019) - Defines the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS) and professional research practices

Related Pages