User talk:Matthewedwards/Library/AV

Sources

Okay, here's my take on this: Settle and Tropico are almost certainly notable enough to merit their own articles. Burton could be, but it's a bit hard to tell with only the information given here; if you've got more on him, you could probably make a decent article of it.

In determining reliability for an article on Antelope Valley, there are a couple of other factors to consider. Settle seems to be a recognized authority on California history. Is the KAHS recognized as a significant historical authority? I'm not sure whether California has an association or governing body for historical societies, so that could be something to check into. You could also look at whether other sources (previously accepted as RS) cite KAHS publications.

Based only on what appears on this page, I would be inclined to accept the first Settle book in its entirety as a reliable source. In the second, the Morris piece is borderline, as she's a high-school (not university) teacher and her material comes largely from her MA (not PhD) thesis. I would also question the Rutledge piece, based only on the title - I haven't seen the source itself, so it might be okay, but "Memoirs" would imply primary source / potential unreliability. The Covington and Hamilton pieces in the third book would be questionable for the same reason. Without access to the source I'm not sure what "Hart" in the Mumaw title refers to; do you know? I would treat the City of Lancaster-published source as primary material. The other Settle books seem reliable, depending on the status of the KAHS.

The RS status of the Pickus sources is dependent on that of the KAHS as a whole. That being said, I would be less inclined to accept these as sources simply because Pickus (based on what you've said here) doesn't have a background comparable to Settle. Is she an authority on AV history solely because she lived/lives there? (Incidentally, were there any restrictions on who could be a member of the KAHS?)

Love is definitely reliable, Glennan most likely is also. De Witt is most likely reliable in his own right, but again the status of these works is somewhat dependent on the reliability of the WAVHS. The Graham-Pickus piece (I'm assuming this is the same Pickus?) would be treated as a primary source in this context. Stark's reliability hinges on that of the WAVHS. Based only on the titles of the Gordon works, these may be primary sources; without having read the sources, I can't say for sure.

Miller, Nunis and Ronning all seem fine. Lawlor, Stone and Chimbole are questionable: the first two because these seem like less academically-oriented sources from less recognized publishers, the latter because it's most likely either primary-source or biased material (writing on the history of the town when he was the town's first mayor). All three could potentially be used, but this would require great care, and may still be questioned for GA/FA. The "National Publishers" section raises no immediate red flags; these sources would likely all be considered reliable.

Hope this helps! Nikkimaria (talk) 03:42, 14 June 2011 (UTC)

Thank you very much, I think this will help a lot! I think you're right about Grace Pickus (Grace Graham-Pickus is the same person), and I'm not sure what the membership requirements of KAHS were. "Hart" should be "Heart", I'm sorry. It's an odd one, that.. I think that it was written either by some Antelope Valley Joint Union High School students or teachers, but I've seen it listed in the bibliography of some of the books in the "national publisher" section. I'll probably try to avoid using it though.

I don't have much information on the WAVHS. I think it's still going, so I'm going to try to get in contact with them. The Shelton Gordon pieces are basically two collections of letters from many, many "old timers" and "pioneers", basically those who lived in Palmdale between 1890 and 1920-30. All would therefore be primary sources, but there are one or two that could be useful. One, for instance, is from John Wayne, who lived in the Valley as a child, and there are a number of stories about Judy Garland and her family (when she was a child her family owned the local movie theater), but I'm confident that if any of those are of any importance they will have been repeated in some of the more reputable and reliable Garland biographies.

I just added a book to "National publishers" by Russ Leadabrand (LA Times bio link) who wrote for Westways, the Automobile Club of Southern California's member magazine and at least 5 guidebooks in the 60s for Ward Ritchie Press -- no article yet, but see [1] and [2], also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=Ward+Ritchie and Gloria Stuart#Return to acting – 1970s to 2000s. If there is any doubt on Miller or Settle, he lists Miller's Mines of the High Desert and Settle's Here Roamed the Antelope in his Bibliography. I'll keep looking for others who've cited Settle.

I've found the Lawlor and Stone books on Amazon, they're both kind of travel guides and what-to-do books from local publishers. As for Chimbole, I totally get what you're saying so if I use that I'll take extra care.

My main concerns were for the KVHS and the WAVHS publications, but you have reassured me somewhat. Thank you! Matthewedwards :  Chat  17:02, 14 June 2011 (UTC)

I've since added two more publications as well, if you could take a look. Both are by local ornithologist Aaron K Feiner. I put them in the "Other local publishers and authors" section. Matthewedwards :  Chat  04:08, 16 June 2011 (UTC)

Questionable. I can't find any information on the Finer Ornithology Institute or on Feiner himself; one of those 8 G-hits identifies him as a "Lancaster bird enthusiast", which doesn't speak well to his qualifications. Barring further information on either him or the institute, I would use neither source. Nikkimaria (talk) 12:17, 16 June 2011 (UTC)