Citation Guidelines

Introduction

Archival documents held by The London Archives are an important resource for researchers writing books and articles for publication. It is essential that any archive documents used by researchers are cited correctly within the footnotes or bibliographies of published works.

Clear citation follows established academic and literary protocol because it shows that the published work is based on real, primary sources. It also enables future researchers to find the documents that have been cited, verify the references and, perhaps, take the research further.

It is also important to record details of the archival collection to which a document belongs, both to add context and to allow identification of the copyright owner.

These guidelines will help to achieve consistency when citing documents from our collections within published works and will ensure that all essential information is recorded within citations in the correct format.

Guidelines

When you use a quote from an archival record held by The London Archives and wish to cite the record in a footnote, or when you use the record extensively in a publication and wish to include details in a bibliography, a general description of the record, including the date, should always precede the citation. The description should be taken from the Title of the archival record as it appears in our catalogue.

The citation which follows the general description should consist of the following elements, in this order:

1. The name of the repository which has custody of the document, and its parent body: The London Archives (City of London Corporation)
2. The full catalogue reference code used to identify the individual document
3. (optional) If appropriate, an internal identifier referencing the exact page, folio, membrane etc from which the information was taken
4. The name of the archival collection to which the document belongs
5. (optional) In some cases it may also be helpful to include an extended reference, for instance the name of the series to which the document belongs. This can give useful contextual information, especially when the document is part of a large collection

Example of a full citation:

• Lyons Tetley: marketing brochure for Sweden, 1994. The London Archives, City of London: ACC/3527/128, pp 3-6, from the J. Lyons and Company Ltd collection

Repository reference: The London Archives

For the first citation in a bibliography or set of footnotes, The London Archives should always be cited in full, in tandem with its parent body, in the following format:

• The London Archives (City of London Corporation)

For subsequent citations the abbreviation ‘TLA’ may be used.

This citation should be used for every document in the custody of The London Archives, including those previously held by the Corporation of London Records Office, Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section or Guildhall Library Prints and Maps Section.

Example:

First citation:

• Directors’ signed minutes 1814-1816. The London Archives (City of London Corporation): B/GLCC/010/002, pp 12-14, from the Gas Light and Coke Company collection

Subsequent citation in the same set of footnotes or bibliography:

• Contract for building works at Vauxhall, Lambeth, 1833. TLA: B/NTG/1491, from the North Thames Gas Predecessors collection, London Gas Light Company

Catalogue reference

The reference quoted for each document should be exactly as it appears in The London Archives’ paper catalogues, or within the ‘Reference Code’ field in our catalogue.

Documents from repositories which have now merged with The London Archives should be quoted by their full TLA reference, not the reference by which they were previously known. This applies to documents previously held by the Corporation of London Records Office, Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section or Guildhall Library Prints and Maps Section.

Example:

• Directors’ signed minutes 1814-1816. The London Archives (City of London Corporation): B/GLCC/010/002, pp 12-14, from the Gas Light and Coke Company collection

Examples of citations of documents from predecessor repositories:

Corporation of London Records Office: former reference ‘Miscellaneous Manuscript 112.11' should be cited as:

• The City of London Corporation Gas Bill, 1866. The London Archives (City of London Corporation): COL/CHD/LA/06/025, from the Corporation of London collection

Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section: former reference ‘MS 817' should be cited as:

• Warrant for the delivery of tea to Mr Watkins, 1824. The London Archives (City of London Corporation) CLC/B/074/MS00817, from the East India Company collection

Guildhall Library Prints and Maps Section ‘Pr.S3/CAB, control number q9518201' should be cited as

• Nos 84-98 Cable Street by F. Calvert, 1830. The London Archives (City of London Corporation): SC/GL/PR/S3/CAB/q9518201, from the Guildhall Library Prints and Maps Main Prints and Drawings collection

Internal identifiers

Any reference to an internal part of a document which does not form part of The London Archives’ Catalogue Reference Code (as defined above), should always be separated from the Catalogue Reference Code by a comma, never by an oblique stroke. It may be written in full eg ‘page’, ‘folio’, ‘membrane’ etc, or may be abbreviated as follows:

• 'p' or 'pp' for page or pages
• 'f' or 'ff' for folio or folios
• 'm' or 'mm' for membrane or membranes (eg for Sessions of the Peace rolls or similar)

The abbreviation will usually be followed by a number, which should be written in the same numerical format, ie Arabic or Roman numerals, as appears in the document itself. For folios or membranes the abbreviations ‘r’ and ‘v’ can also be used for recto (“front”) and verso (“back”) sides of the item

Example:

• The Great Parchment Book, Grocers’ Company. The London Archives (City of London Corporation): CLA/049/EM/02/18/004/D6-D7, f D6v, from the Honourable the Irish Society collection

Consecutive pages should be written in this format:

• Bengeworth Road: A History by Kim D. Leonard. The London Archives (City of London Corporation): LMA/4278/02/124/C, pp 3-4

Non-consecutive pages should be written in this format:

• Bengeworth Road: A History by Kim D. Leonard. TLA: LMA/4278/02/124, pp 3, 5, 8

Archival collection

Always include the name of the archival collection to which the document belongs. This is important in order to ascertain the copyright owner of the document, as many of the collections held at The London Archives remain in the ownership of the depositing organisation or individual. The name of the collection can be found in the search results summary for individual documents as they appear in our catalogue under the ‘From Collection’ field. They can also be found at the top of each page of our paper catalogues or pdf catalogues.

Examples:

• Photograph of the Olympic Cafe at the Franco-British Exhibition at Shepherds Bush, 1908. The London Archives (City of London Corporation): ACC/3527/633, from the J. Lyons and Company Ltd collection
• Memos, reports and byelaws of the Tramways Department. The London Archives (City of London Corporation): LCC/TWYS/GEN/01/001, from the London County Council collection

Extended references

For documents from large collections, it is often useful to identify the creating department or the series to which the document belongs, in order to provide context. This information can be found either as a subheading in our paper catalogues or pdf catalogues, or at an intermediate level of the Collections Tree View within our catalogue. This information can either be added to the general description or to the citation.

Example of extended reference used in the general description:

• London Gas Light Company, contract for building works at Vauxhall, Lambeth, 1833. TLA: B/NTG/1491, from the North Thames Gas Predecessors collection

Example of extended reference used within the citation:

• Contract for building works at Vauxhall, Lambeth, 1833. TLA: B/NTG/1491, from the North Thames Gas Predecessors collection, London Gas Light Company

Please contact us if you have any queries or are uncertain about a particular citation.