Guide to Citing Special Collections Materials

• Online Databases Of Digitized Collections
• Online Exhibits/Primary Materials
• Non-Digitized Materials

Citation Of Online Databases Of Digitized Collections

Bibliography:

[Title of website] [date of website (for some sites there is a month and a year, for the databases there is only a year)] [Corporate Author = RBMSCL, Duke University] [date you looked at the site] [URL]

Example: Medicine and Madison Avenue. 2002. Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University. February 7, 2002. [http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/mma/]

Footnotes:

For individual database item: [Item Title, Item #:]** [Title of website] [date of website (for some sites there is a month and a year, for the databases there is only a year)] [Corporate Author = RBMSCL, Duke University] [date you looked at the site] [URL]

Example: "Prince Hal." Item #: B0010b. Emergence of Advertising in America. 2000. Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University. February 7, 2002. [http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/eaa/]

Example: "Bonnie Blue Flag; A Southern patriotic song." Item #: Conf. Music #114. Historic American Sheet Music. 1999. Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University. February 7, 2002. [http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/sheetmusic/]

Background articles/timelines/historic essays provided on the websites:

[Author name (e.g.Tomes, Nancy)] [Article Title] [Title of website] [date of website (for some sites there is a month and a year, for the databases there is only a year)] [Corporate Author = RBMSCL, Duke University] [date you looked at the site] [URL]

Example: Boyd, Lydia. "Ad*Access Timeline: 1915-1920." Ad*Access. 1999. Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University. February 7, 2002. [http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/adaccess/]

Example: Tomes, Nancy. "Instructor's Guide to MMA." Medicine and Madison Avenue. 2002. Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University. February 7, 2002. [http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/mma/]

** The Item Title would be the Song Title, the Photo Title, the Document title in MMA, or the Ad Headline if desired. There is always a unique Item # that is shown for every item in all of our databases. This is important for inclusion, as there are many songs, photos, and ads with the same Item Title.

Citation Of Online Exhibits/Primary Materials

Bibliography:

[Title of website] [date of website (for some sites there is a month and a year, for the databases there is only a year)] [Corporate Author = RBMSCL, Duke University] [date you looked at the site] [URL]

Example: Elizabeth Johnson Harris, Life Story, 1867-1923. December 1996. Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University. February 7, 2002. [http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/harris/]

Footnotes:

[Description of the precise item (letter, diary, etc.) giving author, date of the document, page of the diary, or whatever] [Title of website] [date of website (for some sites there is a month and a year, for the databases there is only a year)] [Corporate Author = RBMSCL, Duke University] [date you looked at the site] [URL]

Example: Elizabeth Johnson Harris, Life Story, p. 23. Elizabeth Johnson Harris, Life Story, 1867-1923. December 1996. Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University. February 7, 2002. [http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/harris/]

Citation Of Non-Digitized Materials

Different style manuals recommend variant formats for citing manuscripts and print materials, and the precise form of a citation will vary depending on the type of material. The important point is for future researchers to be able to locate the particular items you cite with minimal difficulty. The following examples are given for materials in manuscript collections.

Bibliography:

Give the full name of the collection and location as in the following example:

Charles Wesley Andrews Papers, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

Footnotes:

Use the following examples as guides:

To cite letters:

Eugene Hill to James McPherson, Dec. 18, 1863, in James B. McPherson Papers, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

R. W. Tucker to Erich Fromm, Feb. 28, 1961, in Socialist Party of America Papers, Division II (National File, General Papers, Health Care: 1960-1963), Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

Selected other types of materials:

Carlyle Marney, "The Coming Faith," sermon preached at Princeton, N.J., July 2, 1974 (tape recording), in Carlyle Marney Papers, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

Georgia Portfolio II, p. 153, in Charles Colcock Jones Papers, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

For further information and examples, see guides such as Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers...; University of Chicago Press, A Manual of Style; or the MLA Handbook.