Online Repository Assistant (https://www.ora-extension.com), also known as ORA, is a browser extension and Windows application created by John Cardinal. It works with many common online “repositories” like FamilySearch, Ancestry, FindaGrave, FindMyPast, Fold3, and more, to extract data from records and make it easier to paste text into your genealogy software or research report. I wrote a little about it in my post, Automated Source Citation Builders.
ORA allows you to create your own text templates using data extracted from the webpage that can then be applied to other records/people within the same collection. You can make a text template for a citation! The citation is automatically made when you click on a new record in that collection. The citation appears on your ORA sidebar, and then you can copy/paste or autotype it into your preferred application. With a little work upfront, you can have hundreds of automatically-generated citations at your fingertips. I highly recommend ORA for it’s ability to generate consistent citations efficiently.
Of course, it will still be important to compare the transcribed information that is used for the citation with the original image, but this will be a huge time saver. Diana and I are using it and loving it. ORA costs $24 per year and can be purchased at Family History Hosting here: https://www.familyhistoryhosting.com/oc/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=58. It only works with Windows computers. Follow the ORA installation instructions.
Once ORA is installed on your Windows computer and internet browser, you should see the ORA panel on record pages at Ancestry, FamilySearch, and other online repositories. If the panel is minimized/collapsed, you will see a small black rectangle that says ORA with an arrow, like this:
Simply click the arrow to open/expand the ORA Panel. Then you will see information from the page transcribed and ready to copy/paste using the clipboard next to each item.
To set up an 1880 census citation template at Ancestry, follow these ten steps:
1. Go to a person in one of the collections below, i.e. the 1880 U.S. census at Ancestry. Make sure you are on a person’s census transcription page.
2. Click the ORA browser extension button (ORA settings), as shown in the screenshot below:
3. The ORA settings for the 1880 census collection at Ancestry will open in a new tab. Check to make sure the collection dropdown box says 1880 United States Federal Census. Note: ORA settings will open the settings for the most recent page loaded. If you click on another webpage before going to ORA settings, it won’t take you to the right collection settings. You can choose a different collection in the dropdown box if you have already created a template for that collection.
4. Scroll down to “text templates.” Click the + button to add a new template.
5. In the heading box, type Citation.
6. In the template box, paste the following 1880 census template into the box.
1880 U.S. census, [Residence:split:,:-3] County, [Residence:split:,:-2], population schedule, <[Residence:split:,:-4], >ED [Source.Enumeration District:mathAdd:0], p. [Source.Page], dwelling [Dwelling Number], family {#}, [Name]; database with images, Ancestry ([URL] : accessed [Page.Access Date]); citing NARA microfilm publication T9, roll [Source.Roll:split:_:-1].
This is what it should look like:
7. Click test to see what the citation will look like for the person whose census enumeration you were looking at.
8. Test out the ORA citation template on another person in that same census year. This is what it should look like:
9. Scroll down on the page to see the bottom of the ORA panel. You will now see a citation under the header “Citation” in a yellow box for another person in the 1880 census in the same style as the first one you tested. Click the clipboard button in the yellow box to copy the citation and paste it into your research log, report, or etc.
10. Be sure to italicize publications after you copy and paste. In census citations, usually all that is italicized is the title/name of the website that published the images, in this case, the word Ancestry.
How to Make Citation Templates
To make your own citation templates for other collections, follow the directions here: Ora Text Templates.
To learn more about using ORA, go to the ORA help page, here: ORA Help.
Let me know in the comments if you are using ORA! I’d love to see your citation templates.
2 Comments
Leave your reply.