A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations, 7th edition - Kate L. Turabian 2007

Manuscript collections
Parenthetical citations–reference list 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Documents from collections of unpublished manuscripts involve more complicated and varied elements than published sources.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 you cite multiple documents from a collection, list the collection as a whole in your reference list, 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 For similar types of unpublished material that have not been placed in archives, replace information about the collection with such wording as “in the author's possession” or “private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. Do not include a date, since most collections contain items from various dates.

R: 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.

To cite an individual document from such a collection in your text, identify the author and date, the title or type of document, and the name of the collection or the depository used in the reference list entry. Separate the elements with commas. In many cases, you may be able to include some or all of this information in the text.

P: (James Oglethorpe to the trustees, January 13, 1733, Egmont Manuscripts)

In his letter of January 13, 1733, to the trustees (Egmont Manuscripts), James Oglethorpe declared . . .

If you cite only one document from a collection, list it individually in your reference list, and follow the usual pattern for parenthetical citations.

R: Dinkel, Joseph. 1869. Description of Louis Agassiz written at the request of Elizabeth Cary Agassiz. Agassiz Papers. Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

P: (Dinkel 1869)

HOW TO FORMAT THE ELEMENTS. Here are some special formatting recommendations for documents in manuscript collections.

Specific versus generic titles. Give both specific titles and generic names such as report or minutes in roman type, not enclosed in quotation marks or italicized. 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 parenthetical citations, 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 parenthetical citation, start with the name of the letter writer, followed by to and the name of the recipient. Omit the word letter, which is understood, but for other forms of communication, specify the type (telegram, memorandum).