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Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery

Citing Primary Sources

Subject Guide

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Lindsey Loeper
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410-455-6290

Terms

Title: The title of the work. If a work is untitled a description is put in its place, enclosed in brackets [   ].

Date: The date the work was created. This may be an exact date or may only contain a month or year. In some cases, the date is an approximaiton, inidcated by a lower case c followed by a period (c.). For example c.1917 would mean the work was created sometime in 1917, while c. 1859-64 would indicate that it was created some time between 1859 and 1964.

Format: The type of material the item is, such as DVD, silver gelatin print, or digital image.

Medium: Is the work a photo, a painting, a recording, or a video?

Institution/Repository: The institution where an items is located. Or the instituion that hosts the digital site where the item was accessed. For example, for items located in UMBC's special collections, the institution is University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Collection: A group of materials held by a repository.

Location: The city and state where the instituion holding the materials is located.

Digital File Type: The digital format used to view or listen to the item. For example: JPEG, GIF, MP3.

Dimensions: Some citations make ask for the dimensions of a work of art. If they are not provided, this can be left blank.

Publisher: Chicago style sometimes asks for the name of the publisher. This is the entity that owns the rights to the material.

Using MLA (Modern Language Association) for prints, negatives, and slides

To cite a photograph print, negative, or slide in a museum or collection in MLA use the following format:

Last Name, First Name. Photograph Title. Year Created. Medium. Museum/Collection Name, City.

A photograph titled “Student sit-in for Earth Day at Hillcrest Building” is found in the University Photographs, University Archives collection at UMBC Special Collections. Photographer William Morgenstern created the photograph on April 22, 1970. It is a Gelatin silver print.

Using this information, the MLA citation would be:

Morgenstern, William. Student sit-in for Earth Day at the Hillcrest Building. 1970. Gelatin silver print. University Photographs, University Archives. Special Collections. University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD.

If you are looking at the photo in a publication, add the publication information:

Last Name, First Name. Photograph Title. Year Created. Medium. Museum/Collection Name, City. Title of Publication. BY First Name Last Name. City: Publisher, Year. Page Numbers.

Using MLA (Modern Language Association) for digital photograph

To cite a photograph from a digital collection, follow this format:

Last name, First name. Title. Date of composition. Photograph. Institution, City. Title of the Web site. Web. Day/Month/Year of access. <opt. URL>.

The digital image below can be found in the online Digital Collections of UMBC Special Collections. The photograph was taken by Mildred Grossman in 1958 and it is titled [Little Rock Nine students sitting in a courtyard, New York, NY, 1958].  It was accessed on July 3, 2014 using the following URL: http://contentdm.ad.umbc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16629coll3/id/131.

Using this information, the MLA citation of this would be:

Grossman, Mildred. [Little Rock Nine students sitting in a courtyard, New York, NY, 1958] . 1958. Photograph. University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD. Digital Collections.Web.07/03/2014. <http://contentdm.ad.umbc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16629coll3/id/131>.

If you are citing a photograph that you took, use the following format:

Last Name, First Name. "Photograph Title/Description." Year Created. Digital File Type.

Using Chicago (Turabian) for prints, negatives, and slides

To cite a photograph in Chicago, use the following format:

Last Name, First Name. Title. Year of composition. Medium. Dimensions. Place work resides.

An photograph titled “Student sit-in for Earth Day at Hillcrest Building” is found in the University Photographs, University Archives collection at UMBC Special Collections. Photographer William Morgenstern created the photograph on April 22, 1970. It is a 4 x 5 in. Gelatin silver print.

Using this information, the Chicago citation would be:

Morgenstern, William. Student sit-in for Earth Day at the Hillcrest Building. 1970. Gelatin silver print. 4 x 5 in. University Photographs, University Archives. Special Collections. University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

If you are looking at the photo in a publication, add the publication information:

Last Name, First Name. Title. Year of composition. Medium. Dimensions. Place work resides. Author, Title. Publisher, Date of Publication. Page Number. Plate/Figure Number.

Using Chicago (Turabian) for digital photograph

To cite a photograph from a digital collection in Chicago, follow this format:

Last name, First name Middle initial. Title of Work. Format. City: Publishing Company, copyright date. Source, Collection. Medium, http:// (accessed date).

 

The digital photograph below was taken by Mildred Grossman in 1958 and it is titled [Little Rock Nine students sitting in a courtyard, New York, NY, 1958]. It is a part of the Mildred Grossman collection.  It was accessed on July 3, 2014 through the Digital Collection website of UMBC Special Collections, using the following URL:http://contentdm.ad.umbc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16629coll3/id/131.

 Using this information, the Chicago citation would be:

Grossman, Mildred. “[Little Rock Nine students sitting in a courtyard, New York, NY, 1958].” Photograph. 1958. University of Maryland Baltimore County, Mildred Grossman collection.http://contentdm.ad.umbc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16629coll3/id/131 (accessed 07/03/2014).

For Chicago style, you do not cite artwork or images that you created yourself.

Using APA (American Psychological Association) for prints, negatives, and slides

To cite a photo in a museum or collection in APA, use the following format:

Artists last name, A. A. (Year of composition). Title of Work. [Format]. Place work resides.

An photograph titled “Student sit-in for Earth Day at Hillcrest Building” is found in the University Photographs, University Archives collection at UMBC Special Collections. Photographer William Morgenstern created the photograph on April 22, 1970. It is a 4 x 5 in. Gelatin silver print.

Using this information, the APA citation would be:

Morgenstern, W. (1970). Student sit-in for Earth Day at the Hillcrest Building [gelatin silver print]. Special Collections. University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD.

Using APA (American Psychological Association) for digital photograph

To cite a photograph from a digital collection in APA, follow this format:

Photographer last name, first initial. Second initial.  (copyright year). Title of photograph [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://

 

The digital photograph below was taken by Mildred Grossman in 1958 and it is titled [Little Rock Nine students sitting in a courtyard, New York, NY, 1958]. It is a part of the Mildred Grossman collection.  It was accessed on July 3, 2014 through the Digital Collection website of UMBC Special Collections, using the following URL:http://contentdm.ad.umbc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16629coll3/id/131.

Using this information, the APA citation would be:

Grossman, M. (1958). [Little Rock Nine students sitting in a courtyard, New York, NY, 1958][Photograph]. Retrieved from http://contentdm.ad.umbc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16629coll3/id/131

For APA, you do not cite artwork or images that you created yourself.