Cite it! - History - United States - Guides at Middlebury College

Which Style Does History Use?

History uses "Turabian". The Turabian manual interprets Chicago Style in an easy to understand way for students. It is still Chicago Style.

Find print copies at the Library
Reference Area
Main floor, middle shelves
LB2369 .T8

Online Resources
A Quick Guide is available online from the publisher or you can consult the full Chicago Manual Online.

How to Cite Primary Sources

The Chicago & Turabian Manuals include primary sources as well by type of source (newspaper, letters, documents, etc.) but sometimes you will need to find the closest match and adapt your citation.

Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition, Manuscript Collections

In particular:

14.229: Examples of note forms for manuscript collections

14.230: Examples of bibliography entries for manuscript collections

General principles:

The form for citing unpublished, archival materials is less standardized than for published sources.
Adopt a consistent form in your work.
Describe the item in the Notes, but describe only the collection or archive in the bibliography (unless you cite only one item from a given collection).

Structure

Footnote

1. Name of author, "Name of item," date (date-mo-year), Name of collection, Item locator, Repository.

Bibliography
Name of collection, Name of repository.

Letter

See Chicago 14.228 re: Collections of letters

Footnote
1. Joseph Battell to President Ezra Brainerd, 2 February 1893, A2 President Brainerd, Middlebury College Special Collections and Archives (hereafter cited as MC Archives). http://middarchive.middlebury.edu/cdm/ref/collection/archadmin/id/2136

Bibliography
A2 President Brainerd, Middlebury College Special Collections and Archives.

Scrapbook

Footnote
1. Ruth Hesselgrave, Scrapbook of Ruth Hesselgrave, class 1918, circa 1915-1919, College Archives, Middlebury College Special Collections and Archives.

Bibliography
College Archives, Middlebury College Special Collections and Archives.

Photograph

Footnote
1. Photograph of Ezra Brainerd, Middlebury College President, 1864, College Archives A2 PF, Middlebury College Special Collections and Archives.

Bibliography
No bibliographic entry is required for photographs. Put all required information in the footnote or text.

More help:

Citing Primary Sources - Library of Congress Examples
Examples of citing cartoons, films, gov't publications, manuscripts, maps, newspapers, photographs, etc. from LC's collections using Chicago (~Turabian) and MLA styles.
Primary Sources Reprinted in a Book (Chicago Style)
In many cases you can follow the format for citing a chapter in an edited book or anthology. It may require some adaptation. The first part should reflect the type of source, the second part the standard elements for the book it is from. For more examples, see Notes and Bibliography section of Chicago Manual of Style Online.
Citation Guide - Historic Legislative Materials
Examples from Library of Congress American Memory Century of Lawmaking.

Annotated Bibliographies

Annotated Bibliographies
Middlebury College Library Citation Guide - section describing annotated bibliographies with examples.

Sample Papers

Sample paper using Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed) with footnotes (opens as a PDF document)

Sample paper using the Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed) author / date (opens as a PDF document)

Zotero (Citation Tool / Manager)

Organize your research a

nd automatically create bibliographies in MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian, and more. Zotero is free tool you download and use with a connector for Firefox, Chrome or Safari.

Download: Zotero website

Learn More: Midd Zotero Guide

Zotero for Groups

More Citation Help

When you use the words, ideas, or creations of someone else, cite them. More examples of how and when to cite as well as links to tools like Zotero, to make it easier to keep track of your sources, can be found on the main Citation Guide.

Ask a Middlebury Librarian

Meet

Text