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Primary Sources: Citing Primary Sources in Chicago Style

Chicago Style Citations

For more information on citing in Chicago Notes and Bibliography Style, please see our main Chicago citation guide, especially the page about citing nontraditional sources in Chicago style.


Images/Art Found Online

Dior, Christian. May, 1953. Silk, Length at CB ((a) to waist): 5 3/4 in. (14.6 cm) Length at CB (b): 45 1/2 in. (115.6 cm). New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed January 5, 2011. http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/80002249.

Footnote: 

              1. Christian Dior, May, 1953, silk, Length at CB ((a) to waist): 5 3/4 in. (14.6 cm) Length at CB (b): 45 1/2 in. (115.6 cm), New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/80002249.

Videos Found Online

CNN. "Stacy Abrams on 2020: You Don't Run for Second Place." YouTube video, 7:37. March 27, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60vRasxAKUY.

Footnote: 

              1. "Stacy Abrams on 2020: You Don't Run for Second Place," YouTube video, 7:37, March 27, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60vRasxAKUY.

Music 

Elgar, Edward. “Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85.” The Very Best of Jacqueline Du Pre. Performed by Jacqueline Du Pre. EMI Classics 0724358659757, 2008, Naxos streaming audio. https://dickinson.naxosmusiclibrary.com/streamw.asp?ver=2.0&s=77182%2Fdickinsonnml06%2F1693524.

Footnote:

            1. Edward Elgar, "Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85," The Very Best of Jacqueline Du Pre, performed by Jacqueline Du Pre, EMI Classics 0724358659757, 2008, Naxos streaming audio, https://dickinson.naxosmusiclibrary.com/streamw.asp?ver=2.0&s=77182%2Fdickinsonnml06%2F1693524. 

Legal Documents

Note: In Chicago Notes and Bibliography Style, legal publications are generally cited only with notes and rarely included in bibliographies. Therefore, the examples here include only the note form. For more information on citing legal publications, see The Chicago Manual of Style Online's chapter on legal documents or our Chicago citation guide, which includes sections on legal documents. The citations for most legal sources in Chicago Style are similar to those in APA Style, because both citation styles use The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation for legal sources.

Constitutional amendments:

             1. U.S. Const. art. I,  § 4, cl. 2.

Court decisions

             1. United States v. Dennis, 183 F. 201 (2d Cir. 1950).

Other Common Primary Sources

Note: For many more examples of citations for archival sources in Chicago Notes and Bibliography Style, see the Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections Primary Source Citation Guide.

Letter in an archive (that you saw in person):

Carothers, Amy A., to Agnew, Cornelius R., 20 June 1876. CIS-MC-001, Box 1, Folder 1, Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.

Footnote:

               1. Amy A. Carothers to Cornelius R. Agnew, 20 June 1876, IS-MC-001, Box 1, Folder 1, Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.

Letter in an archive (that you accessed online)

Carothers, Amy A., to Agnew, Cornelius R., 20 June 1876. CIS-MC-001, Box 1, Folder 1, Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center, Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/documents/letter-amy-carothers-cornelius-r-agnew.
 

Footnote:

             1. Amy A. Carothers to Cornelius R. Agnew, 20 June 1876, CIS-MC-001, Box 1, Folder 1, Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center, Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/documents/letter-amy-carothers-cornelius-r-agnew

Newspaper article:

"National Convention of the Colored Race." The Christian Statesman, October 4, 1883. http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/8HBZX6.

Footnote:

              1. "National Convention of the Colored Race," The Christian Statesman, October 4, 1883, http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/8HBZX6.

For more information on citing in Chicago Author-Date, please see the page on Author-Date citations in our Chicago Style citation guide. The bibliographic entries for the Author-Date style of Chicago largely follow the same general format of the Notes and Bibliography style, but with the author and the date/year of publication being the first two items. See the following examples for some of the formatting differences.


Images/Art Found Online

Dior, Christian. 1953. May. Silk, Length at CB ((a) to waist): 5 3/4 in. (14.6 cm) Length at CB (b): 45 1/2 in. (115.6 cm). New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed January 5, 2011. http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/80002249.

Videos Found Online

CNN. 2019. "Stacy Abrams on 2020: You Don't Run for Second Place." YouTube video, 7:37. March 27, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60vRasxAKUY.

Music 

Elgar, Edward. 1919. “Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85.” The Very Best of Jacqueline Du Pre. Performed by Jacqueline Du Pre. EMI Classics 0724358659757, 2008, Naxos streaming audio. https://dickinson.naxosmusiclibrary.com/streamw.asp?ver=2.0&s=77182%2Fdickinsonnml06%2F1693524.

Legal Documents

Note: Unless you are citing a large number of legal documents in your paper, you can limit your legal citations to in-text citations and not include them in the reference list. In this case, your in-text citations would be the same as the footnotes if you were working with Chicago Notes and Bibliography Style, so you can follow the examples given in our Chicago citation guide if you need more help. Examples of in-text citations to legal works are given below. 

Constitutional amendments:

(U.S. Const. art. I,  § 4, cl. 2)

Court decisions

(United States v. Dennis, 183 F. 201 (2d Cir. 1950))

Other Common Primary Sources

Letter in an archive (that you saw in person):

Carothers, Amy A. 1876. Letter to Cornelius R. Agnew. 20 June 1876. CIS-MC-001, Box 1, Folder 1, Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.

Letter in an archive (that you accessed online)

Carothers, Amy A. 1876. Letter to Cornelius R. Agnew. 20 June 1876. CIS-MC-001, Box 1, Folder 1, Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center, Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA. http://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/documents/letter-amy-carothers-cornelius-r-agnew.

Newspaper article:

The Christian Statesman1883. "National Convention of the Colored Race." October 4, 1883. http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/8HBZX6.