What date are we supposed to use for Julian dates?

Question

https://libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/hg/colonialresearch/calendar is an interesting article on the dates changes. Our software doesn’t calculate in the old dates systems so should we be converting the date to the Gregorian system but add a statement that the original date was yyyy/yyyy. Eg put 26 Jan 1751 in the date field and add a comment that the baptismal / burial (or whatever it is) record states 26 Jan 1750/51 in the dual calendar system.

Comments

That's a good article on the historical situation. Thanks for the link!

As you inferred, in the data fields it's important for the date to include the Gregorian (new-style) year, so that date arithmetic will not be messed up. But when you cite records in the text section of the profile, quote the date as given in the record you saw.

And remember that different countries changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar at different times. Most of Europe (and colonies of most European countries) was on the Gregorian calendar long before the British made the shift.

Answer 1

Information on Julian dates, and a converter

http://www.longpelaexpertise.com/toolsJulian.php

Comments

That is not the same "Julian Date" discussed in the link at the Connecticut State Library, that Jillian posted. The converter at the Longpelae web site says that their use of the term Julian date "is more correctly called an Ordinal date. However in the mainframe world, we call them 'Julian Dates', and so we've used this term on this page."

There is more information on the Julian day Wikipedia page.