Scope: This document describes the differences between cataloging a bound manuscript and cataloging a book or loose manuscripts. If a given field is not mentioned below, treat it the same as you would when cataloging a book.
Contact: Margaret Nichols
Unit: RMC
Date last updated: 04/03/08
Date of next review: March 2009
- Bibliographic Records
- Holdings Records
Bibliographic Records
Leader
Type of record: t
Bibliographic Level: m
008 field
Publication status: s for single date, i for a range of dates (beginning date goes in Date 1, ending date in Date 2)
Place of publication: nyu (here we record the location of the repository, namely Cornell, in New York State)
040 field: $a NIC $c NIC $e dacs
099 _9 field: Local call number
Put the collection number here.
1xx field
Use this field for the creator of the manuscript. In manuscript cataloging, this is defined differently than it is in book cataloging. The creator is the person who created the manuscript itself—usually but not necessarily its content. For instance, if Joe Brown wrote a play but Geri Green translated and transcribed it in the manuscript, we would put “Green, Geri” as the creator; “Brown, Joe” would be an added entry.
245 field
This consists of the brief title followed by a comma and the date in $f. Transcribe the title from the title page if there is one. If there is no title page, take the title from the spine or elsewhere in the volume, or devise a title. You don’t need to use square brackets around a devised title. A devised title should consist of the creator’s name + nature of the materials + (optionally) topic.
Examples:
The story of my life, $f 1843.
Joseph Stein diary on travels in China, $f1867-1870.
If the date is approximate, you can phrase it a bit more informally than AACR2 allows. Spell out the word “circa” if you use it:
1780s
1800s
before 1925
probably 1953
circa 1900-1910
Remember to fill in the same date(s) in the 008 field.
Omit the 260 field.
300 field
Treat this field the same as in book cataloging, except without abbreviations (“volume,” “pages,” etc. are spelled out). If the text of the manuscript ends before the last numbered page, give the number of the last numbered page in the 300 and make a 500 note about the blank pages at the end (e.g. “Pages 50-75 are blank”). If the manuscript is illustrated, add [space][colon][$b ill.]. Add [space][semicolon][space][height of the volume in centimeters]. Note that “cm” is used without a period at the end (it’s considered to be a symbol rather than an abbreviation).
300 154 pages :$b ill. ;$c 21 cm
545 field: Biographic/Historical information
Use this field for biographical/historical information on the creator, if you have it. It can be just a brief identifying phrase, such as “American architect.”
520 field: Summary
Describe what the manuscript is and sum up its contents concisely. It’s helpful to include the word “manuscript” (or the like) near the beginning of the summary to clarify the nature of the item. If the binding is distinctive, it’s helpful to include a brief description of it at the end of this field.
Examples:
Manuscript cookbook, illustrated by hand. Bound in full calf with marbled endpapers.
Notebook kept by John Lockwood Kipling with rough drafts and notes for his book Beast and man in India, with many additional notes on the life and customs of Indian workmen. Included are quotations from various writers on the general subject of working people, including passages of poems by Rudyard Kipling. Laid in are two manuscript items, one a letter from M. H. Stein to Mr. Kipling (probably John Lockwood Kipling) dated July 25, 1892, the other an unsigned description of "An Indian hawking party."
546 field: Language
Make a note stating what language(s) the manuscript is in. If you can describe the handwriting, that is also useful. Remember also to use the appropriate language code in the 008 field.
Examples:
In English, written in a neat cursive script.
Mainly in 19th-century German script, with two notes in Fraktur glued in.
561 field: Provenance
Use this field for the provenance note if the item has a signature, bookplate, stamp, etc. with a previous owner’s name.
Provenance: Joseph R. White (bookplate).
541 1_ field: Immediate source of acquisition (coded to display to the public)
Use this field for the donor if the item was a gift (except for Human Sexuality or other sensitive material).
Gift of Helen Miller.
524 field: Preferred form of citation
We typically put this field last among the 5xx fields. The 524 MARC tag generates the OPAC label “Cite as:” We use the creator’s name (in direct order) followed by the title proper, the collection number, and RMC, CUL, as in the examples below. If the title includes the creator’s name, you need not precede it with the name. Cite the collection number only, not the whole call number:
John Lockwood Kipling and Alice Kipling Notebooks, #4610. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
John Edward Lee Letterbook, #4700. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
not John Edward Lee. John Edward Lee Letterbook, #4700. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
not John Edward Lee Letterbook, #4700 Bd. Ms. 1. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
Note: Use LC subject headings as usual, but don’t use a “special files field” for the date of the work (650 _4). We use that for the publication date of a printed work, not for manuscripts.
655 _7 field: Form/genre or other thesaurus terms
Form/genre terms for manuscripts can be drawn from the Art & Architecture Thesaurus or (less commonly) from RBMS Genre Terms. We subdivide RBMS terms by country and century. “Diaries” is a valid term in both thesauri, but it’s helpful to use the RBMS version so you can subdivide it by country and century (we have many, many diaries).
Examples:
655 _7 Diaries$zGermany$y20th century.$2rbgenr
655 _7 Photograph albums.$2aat
If the item has an especially interesting binding or the like, you can use a term from one of the other RBMS thesauri to describe it, as you would for a book. See LTS Procedure 88, “Thesaurus Terms Commonly Used for Rare Books.”
Examples:
655 _7 Clasps (Binding).$2rbbin
655 _7 Prize books (Provenance).$2rbprov
7xx field
Make added entries for co-creators of the manuscript, or other contributors such as editors, etc. If the volume is a letterbook, for example, trace the compiler of the letterbook as the creator in a 100 field, and the predominant correspondents in 700 fields.
If the volume has a bookplate, signature, inscription, stamp, etc. of a former owner, besides adding a note in the 561 field, trace the former owner’s name in a 700 or 710 field with the appropriate $4 at the end:
$4fmo for former owner
$4sgn for signer
$4ins for inscriber
$4asn for associated name
The $4 codes are MARC relator codes.
Example: 700 1_ Dejours, Pierre.$4fmo
Holdings Records
852 8_ $b [location, usually rmc] $k [sublocation, usually Archives] $h [collection no.] Bd. Ms. [no.]
If the bound manuscript is part of a named collection that has its own Voyager location (e.g., Lavoisier), use that location for the bound manuscript. Otherwise, use the location $b rmc $k Archives.
If there is only one bound manuscript in this collection, make it Bd. Ms. 1. Additional bound manuscripts may be added to the collection in the future.
Examples:
852 8_ $b rmc $k Archives $h 4600 Bd. Ms. 53 $m ++
852 8_ $b rmc,hsci $k Lavoisier $h 4712 Bd. Ms. 24
If you have a multivolume manuscript, use 852 81 and add an 866 field as you would for a book.
