Editorial Guidelines December 1, 2023 | Mystic Seaport Museum

MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM EDITORIAL GUIDELINES Published December 1, 2023

MISSION, VISION, AND CORE VALUES MISSION

Mystic Seaport Museum strives to inspire an enduring connection to the American maritime experience.

VISION

Mystic Seaport Museum will re-imagine the interchange between maritime heritage and broader contemporary culture.

CORE VALUES

Knowledge Authenticity Inspiration Stewardship Community

OUR CULTURE

By its very essence, maritime history is grounded in diversity of thought, culture, and experience.

We believe that in both sharing our collective maritime heritage and acting as a cultural anchor in our community, we must include these varied identities and perspectives in all aspects of the Museum by shaping our policies to support equitable and inclusive practices throughout the organization.

Mystic Seaport Museum is committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment, free from threatening, insulting, or harassing behavior or language.

MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM EDITORIAL GUIDE EDITORIAL STYLE REFERENCE Mystic Seaport Museum will follow The Chicago Manual of Style rules (a break from past usage of AP Style).

EXCEPTION: We have elected to capitalize all professional titles for simplicity, whether appearing before or after the staff person’s name.

CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS

Be aware of any contractual obligations around exhibitions and the required credits. i.e.

Sargent, Whistler & Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano, organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum

REFERENCING MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM

• Use Mystic Seaport Museum or the Museum.

• Never use MSM, the Seaport, or Mystic.

• When showing possession, never use “Mystic Seaport Museum’s”; instead use “the Museum’s”.

• When referring to Mystic Seaport Museum as “the Museum” the M is uppercase; when referring to other museums, the m is lowercase.

TITLES OF EXHIBITIONS, SOCIETIES, AND AWARDS • Italicize names of exhibitions, societies, and awards, but not the surrounding punctuation (Alexis Rockman: Oceanus, America and the Sea Society, America and the Sea Award).

• Use full name of exhibition, society, award in first mention; thereafter, the short reference may be used.

Spineless: A Glass Menagerie of Blashcka Marine Invertebrates

Spineless

America and the Sea Society

AATSS

America and the Sea Award

the Award

MISCELLANEOUS

• Use “ship plans” if singular; use “ships plans” if plural; (no apostrophe, not possessive).

• Do not use the “&” in place of “and” unless it is part of an official title or design.

DONOR-NAMED SPACES

Refer to all donor-named spaces by the full or shortened name, but always include the donor name, i.e. Schaefer’s Spouter Tavern (not Spouter’s Tavern).

FULL NAME Aloha Meeting House Ames Landing Armstrong Workshop Bartram Building Bartram Dock Brant Point Lighthouse Bulazel Wharf Cambridge Plaza Campbell Classroom Charles Mallory Sailmaker Sail Loft Chubb's Wharf Clary Family River Deck Clifford and Pauline Mallory Esplanade Clifford Visitor Reception Desk Collins Gallery Hays and Ros Clark Shiplift Henry B. du Pont Preservation Shipyard Hobey's Dock Howell Classroom Jay S. and Jeanne Benet Deck John Gardner Boat Shop C. D. Mallory Building P. R. Mallory Building Margaret P. Mallory Garden Masin Conference Room McGraw Gallery Quadrangle Mildred C. Mallory Building Peter D. Sanger Memorial Visitor Center Pilalas Family Reception Lobby R.J. Schaefer Building Scott's Wharf Stephen C. White Classroom Stillman Building Susan P. Howell Classroom Susan Stucke Funk Children's Museum Doug Teeson Watercraft Workshop The Charles J. and Irene F. Hamm Paint Shop at Mystic Seaport The Wade and Angela Thompson Shipyard Exhibit Gallery Thompson Exhibition Building Tom Clagett Boat Shed Treworgy Planetarium Wachenheim Family Front Entrance Wendell Building White Boat Shop

SHORTENED NAME Meeting House

Mallory Sail Loft Clary Deck Mallory Esplanade Reception Desk Clark Shiplift du Pont Shipyard

Benet Deck Gardner Boat Shop Mallory Buildings Mallory Buildings Members’ Garden Masin Room McGraw Quadrangle Mallory Membership Building Sanger Visitor Center Pilalas Lobby Schaefer Building White Classroom Howell Classroom Funk Children's Museum Teeson Workshop Hamm Paint Shop Thompson Shipyard Gallery Thompson Building Clagett Boat Shed Planetarium Wachemheim Entrance

MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM EDITORIAL GUIDE VESSELS

Avoid using the pronoun “she” when referring to vessels.

Use the full vessel name, the shortened vessel name, then “the vessel”. i.e.: The Charles W. Morgan is the last of an American whaling fleet that numbered more than 2,700 vessels. Built and launched in 1841, the Morgan is now America’s oldest commercial ship still afloat.

The vessel was launched on July 21, 1841, from the yard of Jethro and Zachariah Hillman in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Distinguish the vessel name from the rest of the sentence by italicizing the name. If italics is unavailable, then place vessel name in all caps. If the vessel name is in a sentence that is italicized (such as a photo caption), then place vessel name in plain text. Do not italicize ship prefixes (such is USS, SS, MY, etc.), only the vessel name, i.e.

USS Constitution Use “the” before vessel names that are named after people; do not use “the” before vessel names that are not named after people: i.e.

The Charles W. Morgan was hauled for routine maintenance. River cruises on Sabino will resume in 2023.

THE CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE RULES FOR COMMON USAGES: ABBREVIATIONS OF PERSONAL NAMES

CMOS 10.12 Initials standing for given names are followed by a period and a space. Note that space is added between initials. i.e.: H. G. Wells.

If an entire name is abbreviated, spaces and periods can usually be omitted. i.e.: FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt)

ACADEMIC DEGREES

CMOS 10.21 Periods are omitted in abbreviations of academic degrees (BA, MBA, PhD, JD, etc.) associate degree (no apostrophe) bachelor’s degree; Bachelor of Arts; BA; Bachelor of Science; BS master’s degree; Master of Arts; MA; Master of Science; MS doctorate; Doctor of Philosophy; PhD

CAPITALIZATION OF STAFF TITLES

Mystic Seaport Museum has elected to capitalize all professional titles for simplicity, whether appearing before or after the staff person’s name.

DASHES

No spacing on either side of dashes.

HYPHEN (–)

CMOS 6.77 A hyphen is used to separate numbers that are not inclusive, such as telephone numbers, social security numbers, and ISBNs. It is also used in compound words, creating phrasal adjectives, word breaks, and to separate letters when a word is spelled out letter by letter, as in dialogue or in reference to American Sign Language.

COMMONLY REFERENCED VESSELS

EN DASH (-)­

VESSEL FULL NAME

VESSEL SHORT NAME

(the) Charles W. Morgan

(the) Morgan

(the) L. A. Dunton

(the) Dunton

(the) Emma C. Berry

(the) Berry

(the) Joseph Conrad

(the) Conrad

(the) Breck Marshall

(the) Breck Marshall

Brilliant

Brilliant

Sabino

Sabino

Annie

Annie

Roann

Roann

Gerda III

Gerda III

CMOS 8.46 Compass points and terms derived from them are lowercased if they simply indicate direction or location.

Amistad

Amistad

i.e.

CMOS 6.78 The principal use of the en dash is to connect numbers. With continuing numbers, such as dates, times, and page numbers, it signifies up to and including (or through).

EM DASH (—)

CMOS 6.85 Em dashes are used to set off an amplifying or explanatory element and in that sense can function as an alternative to parentheses, commas, or a colon, especially when an abrupt break in thought is called for.

DIRECTIONS:

southern New England; walk west 50 paces, then southeast 20 paces; north parking lot.

CMOS 8.47 Terms that denote regions are capitalized, as are a few of the adjectives and nouns derived from such terms. i.e. the North, the Southeast, the West Coast, the Pacific Northwest, the Northwest Passage

CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE RULES MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM THE FOR COMMON USAGES (CONTINUED): EDITORIAL GUIDE ELLIPSIS

CMOS 13.50 An ellipsis is a series of three dots used to signal the omission of a word, phrase, line, paragraph, or more from a quoted passage. Such omissions are made of material that is considered irrelevant to the discussion at hand (or, occasionally, to adjust for the grammar of the surrounding text). Chicago style is to use three spaced periods. These dots (which are sometimes referred to as suspension points) may also be used to indicate faltering speech or incomplete thoughts.

CMOS 13.52 Ellipses are normally not used (1) before the first word of a quotation, even if the beginning of the original sentence has been omitted; or (2) after the last word of a quotation, even if the end of the original sentence has been omitted, unless the sentence as quoted is deliberately incomplete.

NUMBERS

CMOS 9.2 In nontechnical contexts, Chicago advises spelling out whole numbers from zero through one hundred and certain round multiples of those numbers. For example, Thirty-two children from eleven families were packed into eight vintage Beetles.

PERIOD

CMOS 6.12 Between sentences the period is followed by a single space.

All complete sentences need ending punctuation, even if the sentence ends with a URL. Consider rewriting the sentence so the URL doesn’t come at the end to avoid confusion over whether the period is part of the URL or not.

SERIAL COMMA CMOS 6.19 Items in a series are normally separated by commas.

When a conjunction joins the last two elements in a series of three or more, a comma—known as the serial or series comma or the Oxford comma—should appear before the conjunction. Chicago strongly recommends this widely practiced usage to prevent ambiguity. If the last element consists of a pair joined by and, the pair should still be preceded by a serial comma and the first and.

STATE NAMES CMOS 10.27 In running text, the names of states, territories, and possessions of the United States should always be spelled out when standing alone and preferably (except for DC) when following the name of a city. For example, Mystic Seaport Museum is located in Mystic, Connecticut.

In bibliographies, tabular matter, lists, and mailing addresses, state names are abbreviated with the two-letter postal codes.

TIME CMOS 9.37 Chicago style recommends lowercase a.m. (ante meridiem) and p.m. (post meridiem).

CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE RULES MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM THE FOR COMMON USAGES (CONTINUED): EDITORIAL GUIDE VERTICAL LISTS: CMOS 6.130 A vertical list is best introduced by a grammatically complete sentence, followed by a colon.

There are two basic types of lists: (1) ordered, in which items are introduced by numbers or letters.

(2) unordered, in which the items are introduced by a bullet, If the list is unordered, and unless the items consist of complete sentences, each item carries no end punctuation and each can usually begin lowercase (except for proper nouns).

For lists whose items require more prominence, capitalization may instead be preferred; choose one approach and follow it consistently. If items run over to one or more new lines, the runover lines are assigned a hanging indent.

NUMBERED LISTS

If the items are numbered (i.e., the list is ordered), a period follows the numeral. It is customary to capitalize items in a numbered list even if the items do not consist of complete sentences. Closing punctuation is used only if items consist of complete sentences. i.e.: Compose three sentences: 1. To illustrate the use of commas in dates 2. To distinguish the use of semicolons from the use of periods 3. To illustrate the use of parentheses within dashes

BULLETED LISTS

Bulleted lists are formatted in the same way as numbered lists. i.e.: Use the Control Panel to make changes to your computer: • To uninstall or repair a program or to change how it runs, go to Programs, and then choose Programs and Features.

• To adjust the resolution displayed by your monitor, go to Appearance and Personalization, and then choose Display. (Lowering the resolution will increase the size of images on the screen.)

• To add a language other than English or to change hand writing options, go to Clock, Language, and Region, and then choose Language.

If none of the items in a bulleted list consist of complete sentences, however, each item can usually begin lowercase (except for proper nouns). i.e.: The style sheet allows for two types of lists: • ordered lists, marked with numbers or letters • unordered lists, marked by bullets or other ornaments