When citing materials from Special Collections, please cite the full name of the collection and of Special Collections. Not all materials will have full citation data, in which case you may leave that part of the citation out or put “unknown” as your professor prefers. Please see your professor for the proper style and any special concerns. Some examples are below. A PDF version of the citation guide is also available.
Artifact
Creator. Date. Title. Medium (if relevant). Name of collection. Name of repository, Place.
Example:
Gettysburg College Centennial Button. Button Pin. Historic Gettysburg College Artifacts & Memoribilia. Special Collections/Musselman Library, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Book/Pamphlet
Cite these as you would an ordinary book (or eBook, if an online version)
Author/Creator. Title. Place of Publication: Publisher, Date. Number of Collection: Name of Collection. Name of repository, Place.
Examples:
Gladfelter, Charles. A Salutory Influence: Gettysburg College, 1832-1985. Mechanicsburg, PA: W&M Printing, Inc., 1987.
Junior Class of 1941. 1941 Spectrum. Gettysburg, PA: Gettysburg College, 1941.
Valentine, Milton. Full Fidelity to God’s Gifts. August 9, 1868. GettDigital: Pamphlet Collection, Special Collections/Musselman Library, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
GettDigital Collection Materials
If citing a pamphlet, book, letter, etc., follow the citation instructions for the item and then include the date of access and hyperlink as indicated below.
Creator. Date. Title. GettDigital: Name of Collection, Name of repository, Place. Date of Access, link-to-item
Examples:
Pear-shaped Snuff Bottle. Qing Dynasty. GettDigital: Asian Art Collection, Special Collections/Musselman Library, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 3 March 2015, http://gettysburg.cdmhost.com/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p4016coll6/id/2159/rec/2
Soglow, O. 1942. Be Smart Act Dumb! GettDigital: World War II Poster Collection, Special Collections/Musselman Library, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 9 February 2015, http://gettysburg.cdmhost.com/cdm/singleitem/collection/p126301coll3/id/5/rec/9
Letter
Writer, Method of Communication to Recipient, Date. Number of Collection: Name of Collection, Name of repository, Place.
Example:
Robert E. Lee, letter to David McConaugh, August 5, 1869. MS-022: David McConaughy Papers, Special Collections/Musselman Library, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Manuscript Collection / College Archives Record Group
Manuscript collections and Record Group collections may be processed or unprocessed. A manuscript collection that is processed will have a manuscript number, MS-000, while an unprocessed manuscript collection and the vast majority of Record Group collections will not. Be sure to note if the collection is unprocessed, as in the last example below. This will tell the reader that the box and file numbers might have changed since you accessed the collection. Just as you write a date of access for a webpage that might change at any time, you also note that a collection is unprocessed, and that your numbers are dependent on the time you accessed it.
Number of Collection: Name of collection. Name of repository, Place.
Examples:
MS-015: Frederick H. Kronenberger papers, Special Collections/Musselman Library, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
RG-001: Papers of the Board of Trustees of Gettysburg College, Special Collections/Musselman Library, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Map
Cartographer. Title. Date. Name of collection. Name of repository, Place.
Example:
Tanner, Henry Schenck. New Map of Pennsylvania. 1833. Stuckenberg Map Collection. Special Collections / Musselman Library, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Oral History
Interviewer. Title including name of interviewee. Date. Name of collection. Name of repository, Place.
Example
Keve, Shannon. Interview with Robert Hulton, 26 April 1994. Oral History Collection, Special Collections / Musselman Library, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Photograph
Artist. Item. Date. Name of collection. Name of repository, Place.
Example
Tipton, W. H. Aerial View of Gettysburg College. 1925. Photograph Collection. Special Collections /Musselman Library, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Regimental History
Cite these as you would an ordinary book (or eBook, if an online version)
Author. Title. Place of publication: Publisher, Date.
Example:
Smith, Ned. The Second Maine Calvary in the Civil War: A History and Roster. Jefferson, North Carolina: MacFarland & Company, Inc., 2014.
