Manuscripts and archival material
You may need to consult more than one section to accurately represent the source used (eg. number of authors and source descriptions)
When citing items from manuscript or archival collections (such as letters), the item itself is usually cited in the footnotes, while the collection itself is the focus of the bibliography entry. However, if only one item from a collection is cited, the item may be included in the bibliography (Manual 14.222).
Format for footnotes
Elements, punctuation & capitalisation
57. Letter writer (First name, Last name) to Recipient (First name, Last name), date, name of collection, identification number / shelf mark, holding institution.
Footnote example
First entry:
57. Stanley Melbourne Bruce to Robert Menzies, 1 May 1934, Papers of Robert Menzies, MS 4936/1/5/38, National Library of Australia.
Second and subsequent entries:
63. NLA MS 4936/1/5/38.
Format for bibliography
Elements, punctuation & capitalisation
Name of collection. Identification number / shelf mark. Holding institution.
Bibliography entry example
Papers of Robert Menzies. MS 4936. National Library of Australia.
Style notes for this reference type
- If the item is a letter, the name of the writer appears first, followed by the word to, and then the name of the recipient. For examples of other types of papers or manuscripts, refer to the Manual 14.229 and 14.230.
- Bibliography entries may be listed by the name of the collection or the name of the author (Manual 14.230).
- Well- known institutions don’t require location information to be given, however, the city of the institution may be given at the end of the citation (Manual 14.227).
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