Citing “Old Style” Dates

Dates used in authorized access points are given in terms of the Gregorian calendar. If a source uses the Julian calendar (also known as Old Style [o.s.]) or Lady Day dating (used in conjunction with the Julian calendar in England through 1752), transcribe the date in the 670 as it appears in the source but correct the date or make the dating style explicit in square brackets. Use the Gregorian date in the 046 and access points.

The shift from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar created a 10-day discrepancy between those two calendars, so the first 10 days of January in the Julian calendar would have the previous year in the Gregorian calendar. Lady Day dating was the practice of beginning the new year on March 25, meaning that January 1 through March 24 were considered part of the previous year.

See: LC-PCC Policy Statement for RDA 9.3.1.3 and the article “Old Style-New Style” by W.W. Greg in his Collected Papers, edited by J.C. Maxwell (Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1966).

Note: Example is illustrative of this guidance only; other aspects of the record do not necessarily conform to current NACO standards.

Example:

010     ‡a nr 00029133
040     ‡a CtY-BR ‡b eng ‡c CtY-BR
100 1   ‡a Rice, Asaph, ‡d 1733-1816
670     ‡a The ministry of reconciliation illustrated, 1792: ‡b p. 33 (Rev. Asaph Rice, of Westminster)
670     ‡a Sibley’s Harvard graduates ‡b (Rice, Asaph; b. 9 Mar. 1732/33 [i.e. 1733 under the Gregorian calendar]; d. 22 Mar. 1816; clergyman)

Other methods of constructing the same 670:

670     ‡a Sibley’s Harvard graduates ‡b (Rice, Asaph; b. 9 Mar. 1732/33 [o.s.]; d. 22 Mar. 1816; clergyman)
670     ‡a Sibley’s Harvard graduates ‡b (Rice, Asaph; b. 9 Mar. 1732/33 [Old Style]; d. 22 Mar. 1816; clergyman)
670     ‡a Sibley’s Harvard graduates ‡b (Rice, Asaph; b. 9 Mar. 1732/33 [Julian calendar]; d. 22 Mar. 1816; clergyman)

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