Citations: Home

Citations to records and papers held by the Albright College Special Collections and College Archives should indicate clearly the source of materials used. Proper citation helps both the researcher who may wish to see records more than once and the College Archivist may be asked to locate cited documents.

Many items in Special Collections and College Archives are not the typical published books and periodicals you find in libraries. A major portion of the archival holdings are unique items - one of a kind. Some types of unique archival documents are: photographs; individual pieces of correspondence; diaries; multiple drafts and manuscripts of documents which are turned into books; printed ephemera (programs, schedules, visiting cards, tickets, or brochures); and posters or broadsides.

Citations tend to progress from either broadest to narrowest form of information or vice versa, depending upon citation style. In general, the following elements need to be present in the citation to assure that the readers of your work will be able to precisely identify what is being cited and located it in the future.

• Repository where the item is held.
• Collection or main record group in which the item is found (and collection number if available).
• Subcollections, series, or subseries where the item would be found.
• Folder title or filing unit where the item is found.
• The document itself, including page, section, or date information.