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. For further details on how different fields are used, see Procedure 91, Details on Fields Used in Manuscript Cataloging.
Contact: Margaret Nichols
Unit: Cataloging & Metadata Services in RMC
Date last updated: 02/09/2017
Date of next review: January 2018
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), or q for a questionable date (with the beginning date of the probable date range in Date 1, and the end date of the probable date range 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
We currently follow DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard, Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2004) when describing manuscripts, whether bound or unbound. DCRM(MSS) (Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Manuscripts)) will be implemented soon for cataloging single manuscripts, once OCLC makes 040 $e dcrmmss valid in its system. Both DACS (2nd edition) and DCRM(MSS) are freely available online.
099 _9 field: Local call number
Put the collection number and bound manuscript number here, e.g. 4605 Bd. Ms. 1. You need not include the size designation here.
1xx field
Use this field for the creator of the manuscript. For an individual manuscript, the creator is the person or body responsible for the manuscript's intellectual content. For instance, if Joe Brown wrote a play but Geri Green transcribed it in the manuscript, we would treat Joe Brown as the creator. Geri Green would be an added entry. A bound collection of autographs or clippings, etc. has the collector as its creator. Example: 100 1_ Brown, Joe, $e collector.
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–a brief phrase that identifies what the manuscript is. Don't use square brackets around a devised title in manuscript cataloging. 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
If the pages are unnumbered, it's sufficient to describe the extent of the item as "1 volume." Note that abbreviations are not used ("volume," "pages," etc. are spelled out). If the manuscript has numbered pages, it's helpful to also give the extent in terms of the number of pages. If the text of the manuscript ends before the last numbered page, give the number of the last numbered page in the 300 field and make a 500 note about the blank pages at the end (e.g. "Pages 50-75 are blank").
Examples:
300 1 volume.
300 1 volume (164 pages).
545 field: Biographic/Historical information (first indicator 0 for an individual, 1 for a group or organization).
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; script or hand
Make a note stating what language(s) the manuscript is in. If the manuscript is written in non-roman script or a particular hand (such as secretary hand or Carolingian miniscule), record that information in 546 $b. Remember also to use the appropriate language code in the 008 field.
Examples:
In English; $b secretary hand.
In German; $b mainly in Suetterlin script, with two notes in Fraktur glued in.
561 field: Provenance (coded with first indicator 1 to display to the public)
Use this field for the provenance note if the item has a signature, bookplate, stamp, etc. with a previous owner's name, or the previous owner is known based on other evidence.
561 1_ Provenance: Joseph R. White (bookplate).
561 1_ Provenance: Fromerly part of the Duveen Lavoisier collection.
541 field: Immediate source of acquisition (coded with first indicator 1 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).
541 1_ 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. The creator's name need not be given twice. Cite the collection number only, not the whole call number:
524 John Lockwood Kipling and Alice Kipling Notebooks, #4610. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
524 John Edward Lee Letterbook, #4700. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
not 524 John Edward Lee. John Edward Lee Letterbook, #4700. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
not 524 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 "special files fields" for the date or place of the work (650 _4 or 651 _4). We use those fields for printed works, 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 (or by country and decade for common 20th-century genres such as novels). "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 $z Germany $y 20th century. $2 rbgenr
655 _7 Photograph albums. $2 aat
If the item has an especially interesting binding or the like, you can use a term from one of the other RBMS Controlled Vocabularies to describe it, as you would for a book. See LTS Procedure 88, "Thesaurus Terms Commonly Used for Rare Books."
Example:
655 _7 Clasps (Binding). $2 rbbin
7xx field
Make added entries for co-creators of the manuscript, or other contributors such as editors, translators, copyists, 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 $e at the end:
$e former owner
$e signer
$e inscriber
$e associated name
The $e terms are MARC or RDA relator terms.
Example: 700 1_ Dejours, Pierre, $e former owner.
Holdings Records
852 8_ $b [location, usually rmc] $k [sublocation, usually Archives] $h [collection no.] Bd. Ms. [no.]
In general, for RMC bound manuscripts, 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.
Example:
852 81 $brmc,hsci $k Lavoisier $h 4712 Bd. Ms. 27
866 41 $8 0 $av.1-4
Code the Leader and 008 fields on the holdings record for a multivolume manuscript as you would for a multivolume book:
Leader
Type of record: v Encoding level: 4
008
Receipt status: 2 if we have the complete set of volumes, 5 if we don't
Completeness: 1 if the set is complete, 2 if it isn't