Gabriela,
I had this same question last fall from a professor here at Brown. I spent a lot of time looking, but didn’t find anything definitive. I’ll paste in my reply to the faculty member.
Nori Duncan, Brown University
…
I apologize for taking so long to get back to you. I did post to ARLIS-L and I got a few replies, but none really hit the mark. I did think this response below was worth considering. Yet there are bound to be times when the museum label is the only known source of information.
“I came across the same issue recently -- if the information on the museum label also appears on the museum's website or collection catalogs (which it often does), those sources can be cited instead.
Jennifer Yao
Reference & Instruction Librarian
Adam & Sophie Gimbel Design Library
The New School Libraries
2 West 13th Street
New York, NY 10011
212-229-8914 ext.4285”
I checked the indexes of Chicago Manual of Style, MLA, Turabian, and Evidence Explained—to no avail. Though none of those authoritative sources seem to address the question, I did find some guidelines online:
From the New School in NYC:
Museum Label
Unfortunately, the Chicago Manual of Style has not yet established guidelines
for citing labels in galleries or museums. Include all information that may be
important, such as:
Note:
23. Museum label for artist, Title of artwork, New York, Metropolitan Museum
of Art, 23 August 2004 [optional: name and date of exhibition, additional
information of interest].
Bibliography:
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Museum label for artist, Title of artwork, New
York, 23 August 2004.
-----------------------------
From the Univ. of Maryland:
To cite materials posted at the museum, please use the following style:
Format of information (wall text, object label, brochure), Gallery Name, Number or Exhibition Title, Museum Name, City, State.
example: Wall text, Playful Performers, National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C.-------------
(Nori again)
Personally I do favor including the date, especially if the label is for a temporary exhibition.
From: ART LIBRARIES SOCIETY DISCUSSION LIST [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Gabriela Zoller
Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 11:50 AM
A library patron just called with a question I must confess I've never considered before:
are there any established rules on how to cite text from an exhibition wall label?
Thank you,
Gabriela
Gabriela Zoller
Technical Services Librarian
G. Robert Strauss, Jr. Memorial Library
Albright-Knox Art Gallery
1285 Elmwood Avenue
Buffalo NY 14222
[log in to unmask]
716.270.8277
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