---
name: ahr-citation-and-style
description: Use when formatting citations and notes for an American Historical Review (AHR) manuscript. The AHR follows the Chicago Manual of Style with all references in footnotes/endnotes — no bibliography or works-cited list and no in-text parenthetical citation. Gets the note apparatus right; it does not write the prose or argument.
---

# Citation & Chicago Style (ahr-citation-and-style)

The AHR uses **Chicago Manual of Style notes**: every citation lives in a **footnote or endnote**,
there is **no separate bibliography / works-cited list**, and there are **no in-text parenthetical
citations**. The note apparatus is substantial — a guideline of roughly **2:1 text-to-notes** at
initial submission. This skill gets the notes right (verify the current CMOS edition and any AHR house
departures on the live guides).

## When to trigger

- Building or cleaning up the footnotes/endnotes
- Citing archival/manuscript sources, books, articles, or digitized material
- Converting a bibliography-and-author-date draft to Chicago notes
- A reviewer or editor flagged citation form or note density

## Chicago-notes essentials

1. **All citation in the notes.** No bibliography page, no works cited, no `(Author year)` in the text.
2. **Full first citation, shortened thereafter.** First note gives the full reference; later notes use
   **author last name + short title + page**. Follow the current CMOS rules for *ibid.* / shortened
   forms (confirm the AHR house preference).
3. **Books:** Author, *Title* (Place: Publisher, Year), page.
4. **Articles:** Author, "Title," *Journal* volume, no. issue (Year): page.
5. **Archival / manuscript sources:** document description and date, **collection**, **box/folder**,
   **archive** and location. Be specific enough that another scholar could retrieve it.
6. **Digitized sources:** cite the original, then the **database / stable URL** and date consulted.
7. **Translations & foreign-language titles:** follow CMOS conventions; provide translations where
   needed and note them.

## Note density (the AHR norm)

- Notes carry the evidentiary apparatus *and* qualifications, side-evidence, and historiographical
  asides that would clog the text — but they are not a dumping ground for undigested material.
- Target roughly **2:1** text-to-notes at submission; references typically grow during revision.

## Anti-patterns

- A bibliography or works-cited list (the AHR does not use one)
- In-text `(Author year)` parenthetical citations
- Vague archival citations with no collection/box/folder
- Inconsistent shortened forms; mismatched *ibid.* usage
- Notes stuffed with material that belongs in the text or cut entirely

## Output format

```
【Style】Chicago notes — no bibliography, no in-text parenthetical? [Y/N]
【First vs. short】full first citation, shortened thereafter? [Y/N]
【Archival form】collection + box/folder + archive specified? [Y/N]
【Digitized】original + database/URL + date consulted? [Y/N]
【Note density】~2:1 text-to-notes at submission?
【Next】ahr-review-process
```

## Supplementary resources

- [`../../resources/external_tools.md`](../../resources/external_tools.md) — Zotero/BibLaTeX Chicago styles and the Chicago Manual of Style
- [`../../resources/official-source-map.md`](../../resources/official-source-map.md) — AHR Chicago-notes citation, note ratio, style guides