I understand that a pre-Independence place name will be different than a post-Independence place name (e.g., "Colony of Virginia, Royal Colony of Great Britain" & "Virginia" ... or perhaps "Commonwealth of Virginia") but I'm not sure when to change over. Do I use the date 4 Jul 1776 (when America declared its Independence) or the date 12 May 1784 when Great Britain recognized America's independence ending its claim? Or perhaps some other date?
Is there a standard?
I have no idea if there is a standard about when to use "USA" (or expansion thereof) - if there is, I suspect it's fairly localised. That means, I believe, that I have to fall back on logic - perilous!
I don't believe that recognition of independence by Great Britain should be relevant - after all, the danger (in general) is that recognition is not granted. In practical terms, the "colonies" are operating independently before 1784 and GB's recognition, so genealogical sources will be created by the "colonists" on their terms, using their names, and stuff will be filed by those names, i.e. recognition is not relevant, internal usage is. (Of course, if the whole thing had collapsed, it might be a different story, e.g. a potential counterargument to internal usage: does anyone use "CSA"?)
So far as I can see, the answer is given on the Constitution Daily Blog for 9 September 2022:
On September 9, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted a new name for what had been called the "United Colonies".
Trying to summarise (in case of link rot), the sequence of events is something like:
“That in all continental commissions, and other instruments, where, heretofore, the words ‘United Colonies’ have been used, the stile be altered for the future to the “United States.”
Having said all that, apparently the words "United States of America" appeared in the first draft of the Articles of Confederation on July 8, 1776, as it was submitted to Congress. But the Articles weren’t ratified by the states until March 1781.
I think it's important to bear in mind that there are multiple reasons for distinguishing historic vs. contemporary place names, including (but not limited to), (a) proper identification of record repositories, and (b) pedantry. The locations and boundaries of the original 13 colonies didn't change pre- and post-independence, so I would therefore place the precise date of transition from "British America" (or whatever) to "USA" in category (b). July 4, 1776 works for me as well as any other.
The creation of new states, either from existing states (e.g., West Virginia, Maine) or from territories, are a different story, and in those cases, the distinction is important. Also, the boundaries of counties, etc. in many U.S. states, have shifted or been reduced considerably over time, which is an important factor in tracking down records - historical records are more likely to be located in the courthouse of the historic place than the contemporary place.
Another example is the historic counties of Wales vs. the contemporary political divisions. It may be important to distinguish the historic location from the current (although many, if not most historical records are consolidated at the National Library of Wales).
There are numerous other examples - much of present-day Poland has in the past been been part of either Russia or Germany, so for some towns, the location of records can depend on the specific historical period in question.
I identify place names as:
<historic> (now <contemporary>)
at whatever grain is appropriate, whether or not record repository location is a factor. But unless record location is a factor, I don't get too concerned about the precise transition date, I just pick one that's reasonable and be consistent about it.
