Manuscripts

adam.domby

I have a few issues:
1. I use a lot of manuscript collections and the manuscript option adds a N.D. all the darn time. Most collections don't have a single date so that doesn't really help me. I have no idea how to recode it to not do this? THere is no way to put in all the information I need for National Archives document with record group, file#, box number, name of document collection, etc. etc. Is there a easier way?
2. Why is there no good manuscript option? Even if it just gave us options like first second, third organizing feature. AS it is, I can't use Zotero for manuscripts and have it give me consistent performance.
3. Is there a way to make your own document type?

adamsmith

I don't understand 1 and 2 - you'd have to give examples of how you want things to be cited.

The answer to 3. is no.

adam.domby

So it needs to come out something like this
File on [Name], Unfiled Papers and Slips Belonging in Confederate Compiled Service Records National Archives Microfilm Publication M347, RG 109, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

or

Record Book, Jones County Superior Court, Spring Term 1866, 401-403, 450, Jones County Criminal Action Papers, North Carolina Division of Archives and History, Raleigh, NC

adam.domby

Only "Unfiled Papers and Slips Belonging in Confederate Compiled Service Records" should be in italics.

ajlyon

This sounds like a book section, and indeed this would not be treated as a manuscript in Chicago style, since the record is part of a microfilm publication. Thus it counts as a published source.

"National Archives Microfilm Publication" would be appropriate as Series and "M347, RG 109" as Series Number. Then NARA as publisher and DC as place.

You should be able to suppress n.d. for the cases when dates are missing, although you'd need to double-check the style to be sure you want that. I'd expect at least a date for the release of the microfilm.

erazlogo

@adam.domby Your first example is from a microform edition, which should be cited as a book, as per CMS 16 (http://0-www.chicagomanualofstyle.org.mercury.concordia.ca/16/ch14/ch14_sec120.html )

"Works issued commercially in microform editions, including dissertations, are treated much like books. The form of publication, when needed, is given after the facts of publication."

i.e., something like this: Unfiled Papers and Slips Belonging in Confederate Compiled Service Records (Washington, DC: National Archives, 2011), Microfilm Publication M347.

Your second example may need to be cited as a legal source, but you can also use the manuscript item type:

Type: Record Book, Jones County Superior Court, Spring Term
Date: 1866
Locator: 401-403, 450
Archive: Jones County Criminal Action Papers, North Carolina Division of Archives and History, Raleigh, NC

These won't produce exactly the formatting you want, but they will come close.