Citing Archives

The United States Library of Congress has an excellent guide to citing primary sources. Some relevant format guidelines have been reproduced here, along with examples based on holdings of the Digital Texas Resource Center.

MLA Style

Manuscripts

Last name, First name. “Title.” Year. Form of the material. Institution, city. Title of the Web site. Web. Day Month Year of access.

Example: Giddings, William. “Letter to Uncle Clint, May 7, 1871.” 1871. MS. Southwestern University Special Collections, Georgetown, TX. Digital Texas Heritage Resource Center. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.

Photographs

Last name, First name. Title. Year of composition. Photograph. Institution, City. Title of the Web site. Web. Day Month Year of access.

Example: Unknown. Portrait of Thomas Falconer. 1854. Photograph. Southwestern University Special Collections. Digital Texas Heritage Resource Center. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.

Government documents

Government. Agency name. Title of Publication. Day Month Year of publication: page numbers. Place of publication: Publisher, Year published. Title of the Web site. Web. Day Month Year of access.

Supreme Government of the Free State of Coahuila y Tejas. Constitutional Congress. Plan para el mejor arreglo de la administracion de justicia en Texas. 1834. Digital Texas Heritage Resource Center. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.

Chicago Style

Manuscripts

Last name, First name Middle initial. Title of Work. Format. City: Publishing Company, copyright date. Source, Collection. Medium, http://...(accessed date).

Example: Giddings, William. Letter to Uncle Clint, May 7, 1871. Letter. From Southwestern University Special Collections, Giddings Collection. Web. http://texasheritage.omeka.net/items/show/30 (accessed September 17, 2015).

Photographs

Last name, First name Middle initial. "Title of Work." Format. City: Publishing Company, copyright date. Source, Collection. Medium, http://...(accessed date).

Example: Unknown photographer. “Portrait of Thomas Falconer.” Photograph. August 1854. Southwestern University Special Collections, Thomas Falconer Correspondence. http://texasheritage.omeka.net/items/show/6 (accessed September 17, 2015).

Government documents

Last name, First name Middle initial. Title of Work. Format. City: Publishing Company, copyright date. Source, Collection. Medium, http://...(accessed date).

Vidaurri y Villaseñor, Francisco. Plan para el mejor arreglo de la administracion de justicia en Texas. 1834. Southwestern University Special Collections.  http://texasheritage.omeka.net/items/show/31. (accessed September 24, 2015).