Citing Photograph Collections

Print photograph citation format

Please note that a citation does not replace any necessary permissions for use of copyrighted materials. Please see our Duplication and Use Policy for more information.

Photographer Last Name, First Name (if known). Title or brief description of photograph.* Day Month Year. Collection Title (if applicable). Unique identifier for the photograph (if it exists – at UW Archives, this identifier is usually an S followed by five numbers), Series number, Box number, Folder number or title (where applicable). University of Wisconsin-Madison Archives, Madison, WI.

*If using a title, place the title in quotation marks. If using a description, do not place this information in quotation marks or italics.

A note on finding the unique identifier: Many of our physical photographs have Series Numbers, others have Accession Numbers. If you are using a photograph from within a collection of mixed materials (e.g., paper documents with a few photographs), you should include the unique identifier, box and folder number in which the photograph is located.

Examples

Manasse, Geoff. Photograph of police officer leaning against damaged car. May 1970. Student Protests, Vietnam Era. S07657, Series 23/21, Box 544, Folder Vietnam Era 1. University of Wisconsin-Madison Archives, Madison, WI.

Leidner. Photograph of campus Carnival Kick Line. 8 March 1951. Carnivals/Festivals, Pranks and Parties. Series 23/15, Box 534, Folder Campus Carnival.University of Wisconsin-Madison Archives, Madison, WI.

Digital photograph citation format

If you are unsure of the image ID (or other unique identifier), please contact us for more information. If you discovered the image in an online collection and are unsure of its provenance or image ID, send us a screenshot or low resolution copy and we’ll do our best to identify and provide citation information for you. If you are using UW Archives photographs in a presentation and/or for educational purposes, please use the following credit line: “Image from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Archives, (ID# S10583).”

Photographer’s Last Name, First Name (if known). Title or brief description of the image.* Title of the website, First Name Last Name of any contributors, Version (when applicable – this describes the medium of the image (chart, diagram, graph, illustration, map, reproduction), Unique Identifier (if present), Publisher, Creation or publication date, URL. Access date.

*If using a title, place the title in quotation marks. If using a description, do not place this information in quotation marks or italics.

Examples

Photograph of men dressed as clowns for the annual Haresfoot Club production. University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, S06501, University of Wisconsin Digital Collections, ca. 1910-1929, https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/AWVSTEG2FSSJU8H. Accessed 27 July 2021.

Meuer, William. “Women’s mechanic class.” University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, S17221, University of Wisconsin Digital Collections, May 1917, https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/STSFZLHEVSDIQ9D. Accessed 27 July 2021.