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150 Years on the Hill

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Citation Guide

This guide provides advice for creating citations to manuscript materials held in Special Collections. In general, citations should provide sufficient detail for locating items. Each citation should include information that will identify the specific item used. Arrange this information in the following three categories:

Description of item:

  • form of communication (memorandum, diary, interview, etc.)
  • names of sender and recipient for a letter, speaker and audience for a speech or delivered paper, author and title for a publication or report, names of interviewer and individual interviewed, etc.
  • date and other information needed for clarity (such as city and state for a speech)

Location information:

  • collection name
  • series and subseries, when applicable
  • box number
  • file or folder number

Identify the repository:

  • Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.

Sample Citations

The following citations are expanded from the footnote formats recommended in The Chicago Manual of Style.

Letter:

L. Brezhnev to J. William Fulbright, July 7, 1973. J. William Fulbright Papers, series 48, subseries 16, box 42, folder 3. Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.

Diary, Memoir, Etc.:

Mary Bacon Bond, commonplace book, May 4, 1836. Martin Family Papers (MC 859), series 2, box 1, folder 8.Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.

Report:

Institute of Distribution, "The Case for--the Case Against: The Utterback-Robinson-Patman Bill," 34-36. Joseph Taylor Robinson Papers, series 9, subseries 2, box 215, folder 4.Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.

Oral History:

Mrs. Alice West, interview by Mary Celestia Parler, December 11, 1954, "Fourth of July and Christmas Customs," transcript. Folklore Collection, box 3, folder 32.Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.

Musical Composition:

Florence Price, Symphony in E Minor, orchestral score. Florence Price Papers (MC 988), series 2, subseries 4, box 3, folder 5.Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.

Literary Draft:

John Gould Fletcher, poem, "I Had Scarcely Fallen Asleep." John Gould Fletcher Papers, series 1, subseries 1, box 3, folder 24.Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.

Photographs:

Photograph of Daisy Bates with John F. Kennedy at the White House. Daisy Bates Papers (MC 582), series 4, subseries 4, box 9, photograph number 57.Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.

Photograph by J. Laurence Charlton of a migrant worker family. J. Laurence Charlton Collection, group 3, number 12.Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville.

Citing Special Collections Materials in the Media

Researchers who publish Special Collections materials in broadcast, print, or social media are encouraged to adapt one of the brief citation examples below to format their citations for publication.

Detailed brief citation:

Courtesy of Special Collections, University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, Orval Eugene Faubus Papers (MS F27 301). Series 25, subseries 4, box 906, item 56

Brief citation (appropriate for social media):

Special Collections, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, MS F27 301. Box 906, item 56

Notification

Researchers who cite materials from Special Collections in their publications are asked to send a copy of the publication and/or a complete bibliographic citation for the publication to the department.