Archives and Special Collections: Citing Archival Material

Formatting of archival citation is dependent on a variety of factors, in particular the preference of an instructor and/or the publication you are writing for. Regardless of the specific citation form, all materials from the Meadville Lombard Archives have a collection number, collection name, and box number that should be included in any citation. Processed collections will often include folder numbers and digitized collections will include item numbers that should also included in the citation. For purposes of archival citations, the formal name of the Meadville Lombard Archives is "Archives and Special Collections, Meadville Lombard Theological School."

If you have any questions about citing items from the Meadville Lombard Archives and Special collections, please email archives@meadville.edu.

Examples below are devised according to Chicago Manual of Style citation.

Footnote

            #. Title or description of item, Item date, Collection Number, Box #, Folder #, Collection Names, Archives and Special Collections, Meadville Lombard Theological School, Chicago, IL, URL. 

            #. Minutes of Citizens’ Advisory Committee for Public Housing Meeting, July 25, 1958, 5009, Box 4, Folder 1, Eugene Sparrow Papers, Sankofa Collection, Archives and Special Collections, Meadville Lombard Theological School.

Bibliographic Entry

For the bibliographic entry, if you are citing only one work from a specific collection, you should make a bibliographic entry for that specific work:

Title or description of item. Item date. Collection Number, Box #, Folder #, Collection Names. Archives and Special Collections, Meadville Lombard Theological School, Chicago, IL. URL. 

Minutes of Citizens’ Advisory Committee for Public Housing Meeting. July 25, 1958. 5009, Box 4, Folder 1.  Eugene Sparrow Papers, Sankofa Collection.  Archives and Special Collections, Meadville Lombard Theological School, Chicago, IL.

However, if you are citing multiple works from a single collection, then in your bibliography, it is acceptable to just note the collection.  If the collection are the particular papers of an individual, you can put them in the place of the author and put Papers as the title.

Collection Name, Collection Number, broader collection.  Archives and Special Collections, Meadville Lombard Theological School, Chicago, IL

Sparrow, Eugene.  Papers.  5009, Sankofa Collection.  Archives and Special Collections, Meadville Lombard Theological School, Chicago, IL.

Shortened Footnote

Depending on how you format your bibliographic entry for your cited archival material, any shortened footnote must include enough information for the reader to find it in the bibliography.

            #. Minutes of Citizens’ Advisory Committee, Eugene Sparrow Papers.

If you have any questions about the Meadville Lombard Archives and Special Collections, just ask!

We can help with...

• Scheduling an archive visit
• Accessing archival materials
• Using our digital archive tools
• Answering reference questions
• Scanning selections of documents
• Donating archival material to Meadville Lombard
• Creating archives at your local congregation

Email an Archivist