Citing on Digital Kenyon

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

What if I'm citing in a specific format (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc)?

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. 

MLA and 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:

1. Author(s). [Last Name, First Name Middle Name]
   If the author is unknown, skip the author element and start with the title.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. Title of container. [Collection title]

5. Location. [Collection number or identifier, Box number, Folder number. Name of repository, Location of repository]

6. URL for digital collection material only

MLA bibliographic citation:

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.

MLA in-text citations:

Known Author

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”).

APA and archival materials

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. 

APA bibliographic citation:

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.

APA in-text citations:

(Author's Last Name(s) or Organization, Year)

Chicago and archival materials

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.

Chicago Style Notes - General Format

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.

Chicago Style Shortened Notes

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.

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).

Subsequent Citation:

“Letter to Dennison,” Charles Pettit McIlvaine Letters

Chicago Style Bibliography

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.