American Tracts

Scope | Size | Marking |  Classification | Subjects

Scope

The American Tracts collection consists of pamphlets published in the United States as well as pamphlets about the United States published elsewhere. Pamphlets relating to the West are classed in the Western Americana collection unless noted otherwise.  Do not class here pamphlets that are purely literary.  Tracts are generally works of 100 pages or less, bound or unbound; however, the limitation of 100 pages is not rigid.  Pamphlets elsewhere will not be reclassed unless handled for other reasons. The general cataloging policies for monographs are followed.

Size

The size boundaries are:

Octavo:

up to 26 cm. high

up to 21 cm. wide

Quarto:

between 26 and 38 cm. high

between 21 and 25 cm. wide

Larger tracts are classed either in the Year/Number collection or in broadsides.

Marking

The following guidelines are used when marking volumes for American Tracts.

1. Mark on Yale bookplate when there is one, generally in the upper left corner.
2. Mark on front cover, lower left hand corner, if in preservation wrappers.
3. Mark on verso of last page, lower right hand corner, when 1 or 2 don’t apply.  The lower left hand corner is the alternate location when the lower right hand corner is unusable.
4. If the last page is unmarkable (e.g. too dark or shiny or filled with text or illustrations), mark the verso of the first usable page from the end.

NOTE: Do not mark call number on original wrappers.

Classification

• Call numbers consist of “Amer Tracts” at the head followed by the full date of publication. The last line is the main entry’s cutter number (derived from C.A. Cutter’s three-figure author table). Expand the number to four or even five digits if necessary to distinguish authors and to place them correctly in alphabetical sequence (e.g., Amer Tracts 1742 H766). Add the plus sign (“+”) for oversize material.
• Class by imprint date irrespective of topic or date of other editions.
• Photocopies class by the date of the original.
• Drop brackets, question marks, and text such as before, after, between, and ca. from the date.
• IIf the date of the item is either a probable decade or century, class using the date as it appears in the “260  ‡c”. (e.g. ‡c [177-?] as 177-  or 260  ‡c [18–?] as 18–).
• If an estimated date spans a decade use the initial date (e.g., 260  ‡c [between 1774 and 1788?] use 1774).
• If the date has been corrected use the corrected date (e.g., 260  ‡c 1785 [i.e. 1789] class under 1789).
• If there is a conflict either adjust the cutter by expanding the cutter number or move up or down one number.
• If the date of publication is a double year use the second year.
• Although marked as American tracts, enter the call number into Orbis as Amer Tracts (e.g., beingen ‡h Amer Tracts 1776 ‡i W52). See also call numbers document.

Example (housed in letter-size folder):

Boston (Mass.) The votes and proceedings of the freeholders and other inhabitants of the town of Boston, in town meeting assembled, according to law, [1772].

Oversize example (housed in legal-size folder):

United States. Dept. of the Treasury. Treasury Department, Dec. 7th, 1792 : sir, I have the honor herewith to transmit certain statements … [1792]

Subjects

• Personal, topical and corporate subjects are always assigned.
• Make an Amer tracts chronology tracing.
• Make appropriate genre headings.
• Make appropriate copy specific notes and local tracings for provenance.
• Make American imprint tracing as required.

Return to top