Contributors' Guidelines

The editors welcome contributions that broaden knowledge and deepen understanding of Maryland history. The MdHM enjoys one of the largest readerships of any state historical magazine in the nation; over the years it has developed strong ties to the scholarly community. Despite the distance usually separating local and academic history, the magazine strives to bring together the "professional" and "popular"-to engage a broad audience while publishing the latest serious research on Maryland.

Thus we especially invite submissions that raise good questions, build on newly discovered or reexamined evidence, and make one's findings interesting and readable. We invite amateur historians to consider and make clear the significance of their work and remind scholars that they address no specialists alone but a wide, literate public.

MANUSCRIPTS. Please type or computer-print your submission, using a dark ribbon, double-spacing lines in both text and-on separate pages-endnotes. Use good quality, standard-sized (8 ½" x 11") white paper and leave ample margins on all sides. Authors are invited to send floppy disks with printed copy. However, please do not send faxed copies. A stamped, self-addressed envelope will ensure the return of your submission.

Because articles normally go to an outside referee for a blind evaluation, we ask that they arrive in duplicate, with the author's name on separate title pages.

For most rules governing format, follow The Chicago Manual of Style (14th edition, 1993). For questions about spelling and hyphenation, consult Webster's New World Dictionary (2d college edition, 1980).

QUOTATIONS. Quoted words and passages give immediacy and poignancy to a manuscript, giving the past its own flavor and allowing past figures to use their own language.

Authors must double-check the accuracy of all quotations and obtain permission to quote from manuscripts and unpublished materials.

Lengthy quotes (best avoided where possible) should also be double-spaced, indented five spaces from the left margin. Ellipses or dots indicate omitted material within quotation marks-three within a sentence, four when the omission includes a period.

TRANSCRIPTIONS. Transcribing handwritten sources (letters, diaries, etc.) presents special problems. On the "expanded method," a set of guidelines that follow the text closely while making a few concessions to readability and good sense, see Oscar Handlin, et al., The Harvard Guide to American History, pp. 95-99, or William T. Hutchinson and William M. E. Rachal, eds., The Papers of James Madison, 1:xxxvi-vii.

TABLES, GRAPHS, CHARTS. Explanatory graphics should be numbered in Arabic numerals, each one preferably on a separate sheet, with any notes pertaining to it below (mark footnotes to tables with raised letters rather than numbers). Each must bear its own explanatory title and within it authors must double-check all arithmetic. Note in the margin of the text where each graphic belongs; references in the text should appear in parentheses within punctuation, e.g., (see Table 1).

ILLUSTRATIONS. Authors bear primary responsibility for supplying the prints, photos, maps, etc. that illustrate their material. With submissions one need only send photocopies of possible illustrations.

Once we accept a piece, authors must supply camera-ready copies and obtain necessary permission to reprint. Authors pay any reproduction fees or costs of alterations/artwork. Printers usually define "camera-ready" images as black and white photographs, no smaller than 5" x 7". Hand-drawn maps and free-hand lettering generally do not suffice. Send captions and credits (or sources) for each illustration.

ENDNOTES. We prefer that articles include endnotes, rather than footnotes imbedded in the text. Notes identify sources of direct quotations and permit the author to insert important additional information when helpful to the reader. Cardinal rules are clarity, consistency, and brevity. One should avoid gratuitous footnoting and if possible while remaining clear, group citations by paragraph. Indicate notes with a raised numeral in the text, outside of punctuation and quotation marks. Follow day-month-year format in notes (as well as text).

First citations must be complete. For later cites of books and journals, use sensible author-title short references (not the outdated and often-confusing op.cit.). Involved citations of archival materials may be abbreviated after the first, full reference to the collection. Underline published titles only.

Use Arabic numerals throughout, even for journal volume numbers. Where pagination within a journal runs consecutively by volume, one need not cite specific issues.

Where a note cites a single source immediately preceding it, use ibid. (we no longer underline this Latin abbreviation; because it means "in the same place," refrain from "in ibid.").

In newspaper titles, italicize place name only if part of the masthead; otherwise location precedes title, as in Baltimore Sun (see below). Page references generally are unnecessary in newspaper cites.

Cite manuscript collections as fully as librarians at each repository request. Citations of Maryland Historical Society holdings must include collection and box numbers; abbreviate MdHS.

Check the Chicago Manual for standard, clear citations of official publications and records.

PROOFS. Authors take primary responsibility for the logic, tightness, and accuracy of their work, but often preparing a manuscript for publication becomes a collaborative effort between editors and contributors. Every submission requires a close reading that normally requires some revisions. Final drafts must undergo copyediting. Before a piece goes to the press, the editor will send authors a print-out of the copyedited text for final examination and proofreading.

CONTRACT TO PUBLISH. Once authors have revised their submissions and approved galleys, the editor will send them a contract setting forth the publication and the mutual agreement publication carries with it.