The purpose of a citation is to clearly identify the source used in a work so that other researchers may locate it. All citations should include the same basic elements, whether for state records or private manuscripts: item description, series or collection title, record group number or accession number, name of institution. In addition, citations for state records should include the folder or file name and name of the agency which created the record.
Unpublished Official State Records
Required Elements:
Examples:
Andrew Roche to Governor Joseph E. Brown, January 2, 1864. Governor’s Subject Files, Georgia Governor’s Office, RG 1–1-5, Georgia Archives.
J.R. White Pension Application, Chatham County, December 30, 1911. Confederate Pension Applications, 1st Supplement, Georgia Confederate Pension Office, RG 58-1-1, Georgia Archives.
Plat Map, District 13, Habersham County, 1819. District Plats of Survey, Georgia Surveyor General’s Office, RG 3-3-24, Georgia Archives.
Optional elements include the accession number, the unit or box number.
Please Note: State government records have been created in a variety of formats over the past 300 years and have been described and cataloged in a variety of ways. Consequently, not all citation elements are always available for all records. Please consult with the archivists when collecting citation data and again before finalizing citations, especially for difficult-to-describe records.
Private Manuscripts
Required Elements:
Examples:
Slave birth records, n.d., Cunningham Family Papers, ac 1997-0188M, Georgia Archives.
Samuel Curtright diary entry, 24 October 1842, Curtright Family Papers, ac 1966-0224M, Georgia Archives.
Mrs. C.S. Townsend correspondence, Boston, MA, 1920-1921, Carnegie Estate Records of Cumberland Island, ac 1969-0501M, Georgia Archives.
Optional elements include series and file number. It is important to use the precise title of the collection. The John Garris Collection is not Papers of John Garris. The title in the online catalog (GIL) or on the main entry card in the card catalog is the precise title of the collection.
Microfilm
Microfilm can be of either unpublished official records or private manuscripts. The critical elements remain the same, with the addition of the microfilm box and drawer number.
Examples:
Register of Members 1915-1948, Savannah First Baptist Church, microfilm drawer 171, box 9, Georgia Archives. (private manuscripts)
Pulaski County Tax Digest, 1861-1862, Property Tax Digests, Dept. of Revenue, RG 34-6-1, microfilm drawer 38, box 52, Georgia Archives.
Visual Materials
Visual Materials are maintained both in separate series for visual materials and in specific series with paper records. In most cases the item description is technical (daguerreotype, for example) and item or negative numbers should be cited if available.
Example:
sap093, Vanishing Georgia Collection, Georgia Archives
Miner in shaft, Hamilton Mining Company, 1934. State Geologist Photographs and Negative Files, Dept. of Mines, Mining and Geology, RG 50-2-33, box 9, McDuffie County folder, Georgia Archives.
