When conducting research using materials from Kenyon’s Special Collections and College Archives, it is important to properly cite the sources that you use. This ensures that future researchers and readers of your work will be able to find the exact item you used in your research to look at on their own. This guide is intended to help you format citations for materials you use from Kenyon’s collections.
Special Collections are the rare, expensive, or fragile materials that the library does not want circulating (i.e. being checked out), but are not typically related to the history of the College. This includes rare books and manuscripts, as well as the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. The College Archives collects materials related to the history of Kenyon: previous Presidents’ letters, files on influential alumni and professors, College publications, Honors Theses, student groups and organizations over the years, and more.
For many books in Special Collections, you will follow the citation guidelines for citing books in whatever citation style you are using. For materials from the College Archives, and the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection, follow the guidelines below.
Note: if you are using a specific citation style, the order of these pieces of information, formatting, and punctuation may change. See below for more information.
Author (last name, first). Title or description of document (date). Collection name. Collection/item number. Special Collections and Archives, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH. Link if applicable.
Often, the specific author may be unknown. In that case, simply omit the unknown author and begin with the description of the document or title. If you have questions about how to cite an item’s collection/item number, ask Special Collections & Archives staff and they can help you.
Example: "OST Insignia to Identify Ostarbeiter or "Eastern" Forced Laborer" (1905). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2022.1.36. Special Collections and Archives, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH.
Example: "Kenyon Collegian - January 1856" (1856). The Kenyon Collegian. 26. Special Collections and Archives, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH. https://digital.kenyon.edu/collegian/26
If you are using materials from Digital Kenyon, you can find a recommended citation at the bottom of the page for the item you are looking at. For example, the 1833 “Letter to Dennison” from the Charles Pettit McIlvaine Letters has the recommended citation of:
McIlvaine, Charles Petit, "Letter to Dennison" (1833). Charles Pettit McIlvaine Letters. 385. https://digital.kenyon.edu/mcilvaine_letters/385
This citation may need to change formatting depending on what style you are using., You also may want to add more information about Kenyon College Special Collections and Archives, so that people outside of Kenyon know where to find this material. For example, you could add the following information to the above citation to improve it:
McIlvaine, Charles Petit, "Letter to Dennison" (1833). Charles Pettit McIlvaine Letters. 385. Special Collections and Archives, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH. https://digital.kenyon.edu/mcilvaine_letters/385
Many citation styles have specific orders and formats that you need to follow when citing materials. If these citation styles do not have guidelines for the format of material you are using from the archives, you should default to the above guidelines for citing archival materials.
The MLA Style has nine core elements with two optional-element slots.
Unlike published material such as books or journal articles, you may not be able to use a majority of the core elements for citing archival material because that information is unavailable. Most archival material will contain the following elements:
Author(s). [Last Name, First Name Middle Name]
If the author is unknown, skip the author element and start with the title.
Title. If untitled, provide a description of the item without quotations or italics. Capitalize the first word of the description as well as any proper nouns in it.
Date. Add a date to the middle optional-element slot using this format: Day month year. If the date is uncertain, add a question mark at the end of the date. If the date is unknown add “Date unknown” as the date.
Title of container. [Collection title]
Location. [Collection number or identifier, Box number, Folder number. Name of repository, Location of repository]
URL for digital collection material only
Author Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial. Title or description of material. Day month year. Collection Name. Collection identifier, Box number, Folder number. Name of repository, Location of repository. URL if applicable.
Include the author’s last name in parentheses after the quote or paraphrase (Shelley).
Unknown Author
Include the title or description of the work being cited in quotation marks in parentheses after the quote or paraphrase (“OST Insignia to Identify Ostarbeiter or "Eastern" Forced Laborer”).
Archives documents and collections are not included in the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition. Please consult the APA Style website for more details on standards and procedures. For more information on how to cite additional archival formats, consult the APA Style page on Archival Documents and Collections.
Author last name, First Initial. (year month day). Title [Description of material]. Name of collection (Collection number or identifier, Box number, Folder number). Name of repository, Location of repository. Retrieved from URL if applicable.
(Author's Last Name(s) or Organization, Year)
There are two different systems for citing sources in Chicago Style: Notes and Bibliography and Author-Date. Be sure to check your assignment to determine which citation style you should use.
Consult The Chicago Manual of Style or the online quick guide for detailed standards and procedures. Most of the guidelines for citing archival material can be found in the Chicago Manual of Style under sections for “Manuscript Collections.”
In the Notes and Bibliography system, sources are cited at the bottom of the page in numbered footnotes or endnotes. Each note corresponds to a raised (superscript) number in the text. Sources are then listed in a separate bibliography at the end of the paper.
1. Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Collection number or identifier, box number, folder number, Collection Name, Name of Repository, Location of Repository. URL if applicable.
In a note, the title of the item should be cited first and quotation marks are only used for specific titles. If they are part of the heading appearing on the manuscript, they can be capitalized, but if used only as descriptors, they can be lowercase.
Subsequent citations for the same document, or if using other documents from the same collection, may be shortened. The shortened form is added in brackets at the end of the first citation.
“Letter to Dennison” by Charles McIlvaine, April 4, 1833, Charles Pettit McIlvaine Letters, box 1, President Files, Series II, Special Collections and Archives, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH (hereafter cited as “Letter to Dennison,” Charles Pettit McIlvaine Letters).
“Letter to Dennison,” Charles Pettit McIlvaine Letters
Last Name, First Name of author. Name of Collection. Name of Repository, Location of Repository.
In a bibliography, references should be listed alphabetically and begin either with the name of the collection or the last name of the author. If only using one item from a collection, you may include the title or a description of the item in the bibliography.
McIlvaine, Charles Pettit. “Letter to Dennison”, April 4, 1833, Charles Pettit McIlvaine Letters, President Files, Series II. Special Collections and Archives, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH.