Latin American Tracts

Scope | Size |  Marking | Classification | Subjects

Scope

The Latin American Tracts collection contains pamphlets published in Latin America as well as pamphlets about Latin America published elsewhere. 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 Latin 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.
5. Mark the call number horizontally in the upper right corner of the folder.

NOTE: Do not mark call number on original wrappers.

Classification

• Call numbers consist of “Lat Amer Tracts” at the head followed by a Cutter for the country of publication, or the country the tract is about from the Yale table of countries in one alphabet, the full date of publication, and a Cutter for the main entry (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., Lat Amer Tracts H2 1819 R73).
• If the pamphlet is about more than one country, class with either Central America (A13) or South America (A14).
• Class by imprint date irrespective of topic or date of other editions.
• Photocopies of any date class by the date of the original.
• Drop brackets, question marks, text (such as before, after, between), and ca. from the date.
• If the date of the item is either a probable decade or century, class using the date as it appears in the “260 ‡c”:
   

  260

  ‡c [177-?]

  Class as 177-
   

  260

  ‡c [18–?]

  Class as 18–
   

• If the estimated date spans a decade, use the initial date:
   

  260

  ‡ c [between 1774 and 1788?]

  Class as 1774
   

• If the date has been corrected, use the corrected date:
   

  260

  ‡c 1785 [i.e. 1789]

  Class as 1789
   

• If imprint is a double year, use second year in call number:
   

  260

  ‡c 1742/1743

  Class as 1743
   

• If there is a conflict, either expand the cutter number or move up or down one number.
• Although marked as Latin American Tracts, the call number is entered into Orbis2 as Lat Amer Tracts:
   

  852

  8

  0

  ‡b beingen ‡h Lat Amer Tracts G2 1524 ‡i K886

  See also call numbers document.

• Official publications are given an arbitrary “A” number from the table below instead of a Cutter for the main entry. Arrange alphabetically by subdivision, then by title.

Examples

El Vijia de la restauracion, 1842.
 

Cuba. Laws, etc. Reglamento para los interpretes de real hacienda en la isla de Cuba, 1850.
 

Subjects

• Personal, corporate and topical subjects are always assigned.
• Add appropriate form/genre terms.
• Make a Latin American chronology tracing.
• For items published in Mexico before 1866, make a Mexican imprint tracing.
• Make appropriate copy specific notes and local tracings for provenance.

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