A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations, 7th edition - Kate L. Turabian 2007
Manuscript collections
Notes-bibliography style: citing specific types of sources
Part II. Source Citation
Documents from collections of unpublished manuscripts involve more complicated and varied elements than published sources. In your citations, include as much identifying information as you can, format the elements consistently, and adapt the general patterns outlined here as needed.
ELEMENTS TO INCLUDE AND THEIR ORDER. If possible, identify the author and date of each item, the title or type of document, the name of the collection, and the name of the depository. In a note, begin with the author's name; if a document has a title but no author, or the title is more important than the author, list the title first.
N: 5. George Creel to Colonel House, September 25, 1918, Edward M. House Papers, Yale University Library, New Haven, CT.
23. James Oglethorpe to the Trustees, January 13, 1733, Phillipps Collection of Egmont Manuscripts, 14200:13, University of Georgia Library, Athens (hereafter cited as Egmont MSS).
24. Burton to Merriam, telegram, January 26, 1923, Charles E. Merriam Papers, University of Chicago Library.
31. Minutes of the Committee for Improving the Condition of Free Blacks, Pennsylvania Abolition Society, 1790—1803, Papers of the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (hereafter cited as Minutes, Pennsylvania Society).
44. Memorandum by Alvin Johnson, 1937, file 36, Horace Kallen Papers, YIVO Institute, New York.
45. Joseph Purcell, “A Map of the Southern Indian District of North America” [ca. 1772], MS 228, Ayer Collection, Newberry Library, Chicago.
For shortened notes, adapt the usual pattern of elements (see 16.4.1) to accommodate the available information and identify the document unambiguously.
N: 46. R. S. Baker to House, November 1, 1919, House Papers.
47. Minutes, April 15, 1795, Pennsylvania Society.
If you cite only one document from a collection and it is critical to your argument or frequently cited within your paper, you may choose to include it in your bibliography. Begin the entry with the author's name; if a document has a title but no author, or the title is more important than the author, list the title first.
B: Dinkel, Joseph. Description of Louis Agassiz written at the request of Elizabeth Cary Agassiz. Agassiz Papers. Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
If you cite multiple documents from a collection, list the collection as a whole in your bibliography, under the name of the collection, the author(s) of the items in the collection, or the depository. For similar types of unpublished material that have not been placed in archives, replace information about the collection with such wording as “in the author's possession” or “private collection,” and do not mention the location.
B: Egmont Manuscripts. Phillipps Collection. University of Georgia Library, Athens.
House, Edward M., Papers. Yale University Library, New Haven, CT.
Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery. Papers. Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Strother, French, and Edward Lowry. Undated correspondence. Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, West Branch, IA.
Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform Papers. Alice Belin du Pont files, Pierre S. du Pont Papers. Eleutherian Mills Historical Library, Wilmington, DE.
HOW TO FORMAT THE ELEMENTS. Here are some special formatting recommendations for documents in manuscript collections.
Specific versus generic titles. Use quotation marks for specific titles of documents but not for generic names such as report or minutes. Capitalize generic names of this kind only if they are part of a formal heading in the manuscript, not if they are merely descriptive.
Locating information. Although some manuscripts may include page numbers that can be included in notes, many will have other types of locators, or none at all. Older manuscripts are usually numbered by signatures only or by folios (fol., fols.) rather than by page. Some manuscript collections have identifying series or file numbers that you can include in a citation.
Papers and manuscripts. In titles of manuscript collections the terms papers and manuscripts are synonymous. Both are acceptable, as are the abbreviations MS and MSS (plural).
Letters. To cite a letter in a note, start with the name of the letter writer, followed by to and the name of the recipient. You may omit first names if the identities of the sender and the recipient are clear from the text. Omit the word letter, which is understood, but for other forms of communication, specify the type (telegram, memorandum).