This instead of telephoning because I can't look you in the voice

November 28, 2015 6:11 PM

I'm adding this telegram from everyone's favorite Aunt Dorothy to an essay. I want to add citation of course. It's been a very long time since I've done this. I cannot find an original source for it and they all seem to link back to this post. Is it ok to link back to the Letters of Note post in my paper? It feels like I should be crediting Dorothy herself or something. This is the only item in the essay that needs citation.

Thanks for the advice!

love always,
your little sister in middle school.

posted by twoforty5am to Writing & Language (8 answers total)

Letters of Note doesn't hold the copyright to Parker's words. You can link, but Parker should have the credit. Did you ask Shaun Ushe where he found it?
posted by Ideefixe at 6:39 PM on November 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

Letters of Note credits Nancy Campbell. The citation link is broken, but perhaps this is another version of what Campbell posted. (Not that this answers your question, but it seems to be an earlier source.)
posted by Snerd at 6:47 PM on November 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: That's what I figured. I sent an email but this has to be in by Monday and am not sure I will get a reply in time. Thought I would post here because I swear the people of ask metafilter are magic and always come up with a solution.
posted by twoforty5am at 6:47 PM on November 28, 2015

What style are you using?

I would probably treat it as an excerpt featured in a curated anthology.

Parker, Dorothy. Telegram to Editor in 1945. Letters of Note. Ed. Shaun Usher. Accessed: Nov 28 2015. Available: http://www.lettersofnote.com/2011/06/i-cant-look-you-in-voice.html .

Totally don't cut and paste the above, btw. It's probably a mish-mash of MLA and Chicago.
posted by spunweb at 7:07 PM on November 28, 2015 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Since the telegram is reproduced at both Letters of Note and at the link Snerd found, I think you could cite the telegram as an archival object, listing either post as the source. The Library of Congress provides a guide to citing primary sources accessed online.

If you're using MLA, I think it would look like this:

Parker, Dorothy. "Telegram to Pascal Covici." 28 June 1945. TS. Blog name. Web. Date of access.

Note that I skipped one item, "Name of library, institution, or collection which houses the work, followed by the location." I feel like it could be acceptable to fudge this much, depending on the purpose of your essay, but otherwise you could try to find out where the telegram is stored.
posted by snorkmaiden at 7:10 PM on November 28, 2015 [3 favorites]

I think the NAACP houses Dorothy Parker's papers.
posted by spunweb at 7:12 PM on November 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Ya never let me down! Thanks!
posted by twoforty5am at 8:19 PM on November 28, 2015

In case you/your prof would prefer a dead tree reference, the telegram is also reproduced on page 123 of the book More Letters of Note (London & Edinburgh: Unbound in conjunction with Canongate Books, 2015) ed. Shaun Usher 9781782114543.
posted by featherboa at 4:42 AM on November 29, 2015 [1 favorite]