Title

As archival material is “unpublished,” most collections lack formal titles and therefore archives staff will usually supply the title. Main source of information: materials themselves, accession, and donor records.

Most resource records for MIT are at a “collection” level with any description applying to an aggregate of materials. However, since archivists describe at all levels, a resource record occasionally could theoretically represent a single item. Titles also need to be transcribed or supplied at other levels (for series, file, and item components) in a container list.

Collection Level Titles

Title is required for resource records at the collection level. At the collection level, the title is usually a concatenation of the creator name and a term describing the form of materials, whether general (personal archives, records) or specific (correspondence, diaries). In general, use "personal archives" for manuscript (MC) collections and "records" for MIT administrative material (AC collections).

Capitalize official name of a body or entity, or person, but not the document type. Separate elements with a comma and use a comma after first part of corporate body, but not between the last word in the office and the word "records."

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Office of the Provost records

• Alice K. Hartley personal archives [creator plus type of material]

• Oral history interview with Tim the Beaver [no single "creator" so use type of material plus topic]

• Oral history interviews on Francis Otto Schmitt [collection of oral histories about one person]

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Office of Minority Education records

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Oral History Program, oral history interviews on ocean engineering

If there is a set of administrative records created by a person who has a distinct responsibility in a large office, include their name following the office title and before the word "records."

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Office of the Provost, Assistant Provost Walter Rosenblith records

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Office of the President, Paul E. Gray records

If the collection consists of specific forms of material use the more specific form name in the title such as: correspondence or diaries

• Theodore Grover collection of autographs, signatures, and images of Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty members, administrators, and alumni
• Holliday C. Heine student notes
• John Smith diaries

Use the word “collection” to denote an assembled set of materials. If Distinctive Collections is the collector or assembler of the collection, use MIT Libraries as the creator.

• Albert G. Ingalls pseudoscience collection  [pseudoscience materials collected by Ingalls]

• Frank J. Lepreau collection on Klaus Liepmann [collection assembled by Lepreau about Liepmann]

• MIT Libraries collection on student life

• MIT Libraries collection of websites of student life

If a collection consists solely of an item with a defined title, retain the existing title.

• The Log of the Dorian

Series Titles

The title of a series may (but does not have to) consist of two parts, a descriptive word and a term describing the form of materials (correspondence, diaries). Use parallel construction when creating series titles — if Series 1 ends with a format type then continue to use formats in the titles for other series in the collection. At the series level avoid using the more general terms “papers,” “records,” or “miscellaneous.” Capitalize all words in the title of a series with the exception of articles, conjunctions, and prepositions.

Examples

Series 1. Personal Correspondence
Series 2. Scrapbooks
Series 3. Research and Writings

File Level Titles

Use the folder title given by the creator of the collection. For analog folders: if there is no folder title, supply one that is brief and concise.

Capitalization

Capitalize only the first word of the folder heading unless it is the official name of a body or entity, or the title of a book, movie, or journal article.

If it is the name of a body or entity, or a book or journal title: capitalize the first letter of all words (except a, an, the, and prepositions) but capitalize the first letter of the title and subtitle no matter what the word. If original folder title supplied by the donor/creator is capitalized and is not the name of a body or entity, or a book or journal title, ignore their formatting.

Examples:

• Office of the President correspondence
• A Peril and a Hope: The Scientists’ Movement in America 1945-47 by Alice Kimball Smith
• Meeting minutes and agendas

Name Order

Names should be listed in titles in natural order - first name and then last name. This guideline should be followed even if this does not match the creators title.

Dates in Title

This is usually the case when the title is an event such as a conference or meeting. Include the date as part of the title when the title date does not match the dates of the materials.

Numbers in Title

Spell out numbers that begin folder title if from one to nine (except for course numbers). For all other numbers not at beginning of title, use digits.

Colons

Avoid using colons in titles, unless used by the creator or part of a proper title. Colons should not be used to indicate categories — this is a change from legacy policies and examples may be found in older processing work. Categorization may be done by nesting file level records.

See: Style Guidelines and Format & Materials for further guidance.