Special Collections contains many different types of material, such as books, newspapers, photographs, handwritten correspondence, meeting minutes, and even the occasional wax bust of a former U.S. President. In many cases, your normal sources for guidance on citation will not provide instructions for what to do when citing the types of things you might find in our collections, and your professor may not know what to tell you either.
This LibGuide provides basic guidance for how to cite the most common types of material found in our Special Collections. In all cases, some amount of interpretation and flexibility will be necessary to accommodate the unique nature of these materials. If you are ever in doubt, please email specialcollections@augustana.edu, call (309) 794-7317, or stop by the reading room on the 1st floor of the library to ask for help!
The menu options on the left correspond to the major categories of materials found in Special Collections. Each section contains a general citation format and examples of that format applied to different items from our collections. If you aren't sure which category your source belongs to/came from, please ask!
