How do I cite archival materials?
Answer
As with a book or article citation, your goal in citing primary sources is to aid your reader in retracing your footsteps to the same document or piece of evidence. This is a little harder to do with archives collections because each one is structured differently, unlike the publication information for a book.
If the archival collection has a finding aid, the Preferred Citation section will give the preferred format for citing the resource. In general, you will cite specific documents in your footnotes or parenthetical citation and cite the collection as a whole in your bibliography.
It is rare that the document you are citing will have a title, unless the finding aid inventory gives one or if it is a titled document. You will end up supplying a title – anything descriptive will do, such as “Letter from A to B” or “Notes dated March 27th.” You will also include the box and folder number, and any other identifying information that may be unique to the collection. If the collection is digitized, add URLs and access information to the citation in addition to or in lieu of box and folder information.
For example, the preferred citation for the Goelet Family Papers is as follows:
[Identification of item], in SP 02: Goelet family papers, [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections, McKillop Library, Salve Regina University, Newport, RI. [URL if available]
You will enter the relevant values in the sections of the citation set off in square brackets, and will not include the brackets in your final citation, e.g.:
Invoice from F. Adams to Ogden Goelet, in SP02: Goelet family papers, Box 1, Folder 7, Special Collections, McKillop Library, Salve Regina University, Newport, RI.
If the document is digitized, then you can cite it as a digital object as directed in your appropriate citation style. For more information, see Purdue University’s guide to Citing Archival Sources.