Editorial Style Guidelines for NASM Exhibits

Editorial Style Guidelines for NASM Exhibits Preferred References Spelling and Editorial Style Webster’s Third New International Dictionary Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary The Chicago Manual of Style, latest edition Aircraft Names and Designations The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Directory of Airplanes, Their Designers and Manufacturers, edited by Dana Bell (NASM Library: TL509 S577 2002X) The Smithsonian and the Museum The Smithsonian We now usually refer to our institution as the Smithsonian, rather than the Smithsonian Institution The National Air and Space Museum First mention is often the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum (Note the apostrophe s in Smithsonian’s.) In exhibit text, usually just the National Air and Space Museum Do not abbreviate as NASM in exhibits Never use & National Air and Space Museum, the Museum Albert Einstein Planetarium, the Planetarium Lockheed Martin IMAX ® Theater, the Theater Paul E Garber Facility, the Garber Facility The Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall, Milestones of Flight, Gallery 100, the gallery, the exhibition The Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center For first mention: the Museum’s Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center; thereafter, the Udvar-Hazy Center Never refer to it the Hazy Center, Hazy, or UHC in exhibit text Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center, the Udvar-Hazy Center, the Center Boeing Aviation Hangar, the Aviation Hangar James S McDonnell Space Hangar, the Space Hangar Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar, the Restoration Hangar Donald D Engen Tower, the Engen Tower Udvar-Hazy Center IMAX ® Theater, the Theater 2/20/18 Editorial Style Guidelines abbreviations This applies to running label text; for specification blocks, see technical specification labels below In general, spell out most words in exhibit text labels, including names of days, months, and states; the words company and corporation; and units of measurement, but see special exceptions for compound measurements in measurements below Follow Chicago Style Manual guidelines on when to abbreviate titles with names, but use the Associated Press Stylebook military rank abbreviations listed in the table at the end of this document Do not abbreviate state names in running text In image captions, when preceded by the city, you may use two-letter post office abbreviations, no punctuation: Dayton, OH Do not use periods nor spaces between elements with abbreviations that are acronyms or initialisms, including personal names: NASA, USA, JFK, PhD, BCE Abbreviate “United States” to “U.S.” when it is a prefix, such as in military rank or other name Use periods without spaces: U.S Army; U.S National Aerobatic Championship Use periods for initials, and space between initials, standing for given names: E B White No comma before Jr., Sr., or roman/arabic numerals: Winston Jr., Zayd Zephyr III acronyms No space between letters, whether lowercase or capitals; use space between abbreviated words African American, black Do not hyphenate African American as a noun or adjective; black may be used as a noun or adjective when appropriate 2/20/18 aircraft aircraft names—Italicize “personal” names, but not manufacturer or model names and designations: Ryan NYP Spirit of St Louis Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis Martin B-26 Marauder Flak Bait 1903 Wright Flyer, the Wright Flyer Lockheed P-38 Lightning codenames—Use quotation marks: Kawasaki Ki-45 KAI Toryu “Nick.” foreign terms—Italicize the term and use parentheses or quotation marks around the translation: Arado Ar 234 Blitz (Lightning); the Blitz, or “Lightning.” plurals—A-6s, B-17s (not A-6’s, B-17’s), except where adding “s” alone might be confusing specifications—For list of possible categories, see table end of document air mail Two words in a historical context air show Two words; however, Patty Wagstaff Airshows al Qaeda Lowercase “a” and no hyphen, per Washington Post and New York Times usage Allies/Allied forces Capitalize in the context of World Wars I and II ammunition and ordnance caliber—Spell out in text, not hyphenate: 30 caliber machine gun (no zero before period) millimeter—Do not spell out or hyphenate: 30 mm gun antiaircraft, antisatellite, antisubmarine, antitank One word, no hyphen artwork credits See credit lines Ascent A polished steel sculpture by John Safer at the Udvar-Hazy Center Asteroid Belt use upper case 2/20/18 astronomical terms Earth, the Earth—Capitalize in an astronomical context: the Earth, from Earth, Earth’s gravity; terrestrial Moon, Sun—Capitalize the names of our Moon and Sun in an astronomical context; lunar, solar planets—Martian, Venusian, Jovian; Mars’s, Venus’s Do not italicize names of planetary features: Olympus Mons comets—Comet Hale-Bopp, Comet Halley, Halley’s comet solar system—Lowercase galaxies, nebulae—Milky Way galaxy, Andromeda galaxy, Crab nebula universe—Capitalize throughout the Explore the Universe gallery as the main subject of the exhibition, but lowercase elsewhere “buzz bomb” Use quotation marks the first time this V-1 nickname appears, then omit them thereafter ca For use in object IDs, technical specifications, credits, and titles to refer to objects or images whose specific dates are unknown In general, not use “circa” in body text Use “about” or “around” for a natural, conversational tone capitalization in titles Default for label titles (e.g., headers, subheads, active learning labels, object names) is headline-style (‘up style’) Exceptions may be warranted In styles with all-caps titles: de HAVILLAND (per GPO style), ALBATROS D.Va Preserve any accent marks: Blériot becomes BLÉRIOT captions In general, not use a period when written as a short sentence fragment Longer fragments may use a period (special cases may be warranted as directed by design): 1962: Earth as seen by John Glenn Jr., from Mercury Atlas Directionals: Use parentheses to identify who’s who in an image; use brackets to identify the location of the image in the context of the graphic panel The following example is for an image that is above the reading band, with nonrelated content between the image and the caption: [Above] Former St Petersburg Mayor A C Phiel (center) paid $400 for the honor of being the first passenger on the St Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line With Phiel is pilot Tony Jannus (right) and the airline’s organizer, Percival E Fansler (left) 2/20/18 circa See ca Cold War Capitalize commas, serial Use a comma before the last element in a series contractions Use to advance plain language writing, or for a natural, conversational tone, but not overuse in one text block credit lines Italicize Credit lines state how or from whom an object was acquired or who gave permission to use it Generally, we not credit divisions or staff from our own museum, but we credit other Smithsonian units For other Smithsonian units that not have “Smithsonian” in the name, use “Smithsonian’s [name of institution].” If the item is a loan item from another museum, credit only the lending museum, not the original donor Use an appropriate description for type of credit (e.g., Gift of or Lent by), but don’t mention the type of object (Photograph courtesy of ) unless there could be confusion over which object is being credited (see example below for major artifact labels at UHC) See examples below as guides, but note that specific requirements change often Best to check with source for proper crediting credit lines, artwork For original artwork, use this format: Title of work (italicized) Artist name Medium (upper case first letter of first word), date work was made e.g., Kissing the Earth Alan Bean Acrylic on Masonite, 1994 (notes: in this example, “Masonite” is capitalized because it is a trade name; if medium info is not available, then put date after Artist’s name with comma) 2/20/18 credit lines, images Photos and other images, generally only use name of contributor, but if more than one contributor, separate by slashes (no space between slashes): Life magazine NASA/JPL-Caltech/UofA Photos and other images, some special cases: All images courtesy of NASA, except where noted (when majority of exhibition, case, or section is from one source) Library of Congress, [Division Name, if given] Special Collections & Archives, Wright State University © ESA, courtesy of Canada Centre for Remote Sensing Image provided by SPOT Image, © 1994, CNES Photos for UHC major artifact labels: Photo courtesy of Richard Kik Jr credit lines, objects examples: Gift of Kent Brown Lent by Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History Transferred from the U.S Air Force Courtesy of Itek Corporation (by special donor request only) Model made and donated by David Gianakos Replica gift of the artist, Paul Van Hoeydonck cross-reference label see SI-link dive-bomb, dive-bomber Hyphenated engine or engined Four-engine aircraft; not four-engined exhibit, exhibition, gallery Exhibition refers to a large display consisting of smaller exhibits, like a book containing chapters Italicize names of exhibitions; use quotation marks for exhibits or exhibit units: “Winging It” in the How Things Fly gallery Gallery refers to the hall in which an exhibition or exhibits are displayed When referring to another exhibition, include the gallery name in italics: the Douglas DC-3 in the Museum’s Looking at Earth gallery Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Note the spelling and accent marks flight test Do not hyphenate as a noun, verb, or adjective heat shield Two words high-bypass turbine engine Hyphenate, also low-bypass turbine engine kilometers per hour Abbreviate km/h 2/20/18 life-support system Hyphenate light plane Two words light-year Hyphenate Lockheed Martin IMAX ® Theater Use ® rather than ™ After first reference, refer to as the Theater lunar module Generally lowercase: the lunar module in Gallery 112, the lunar module Capitalize when referring directly to a specific spacecraft: Lunar Module Columbia measurements This refers to text labels For measurements in technical specifications, see technical specification labels English and metric units—Spell out and use English, followed by metric in parentheses: 33 feet (10 meters); a 30-mile (50kilometer) distance; Unless there’s a need for accuracy, round off quantities to similar units of measurement For UHC only, continue to use older system, of metric followed by English compound measurements—If a measurement (e.g., speed) is made up of two or more measurements (distance over time), then abbreviations should be used, to simplify and clarify the text For example, use this: “Nemesis NXT became the first kit-built airplane to fly faster than 400 mph (644 km/h).” rather than this: “Nemesis NXT became the first kit-built airplane to fly faster than 400 miles (644 kilometers) per hour.” Note that kilometers per hour is abbreviated as “km/h” and not “kmph” or “kmh” force—Stay consistent with types of measurement Use pounds thrust (lb thrust) followed by kilograms thrust (kg thrust) Or use pound force (lbf) followed by newtons (N); a newton (N) is a standard unit of force Round off amounts to the nearest decimal power—Use horsepower (hp) followed by kilowatts (kW) Round off amounts to the nearest decimal temperature—Use symbols, with Fahrenheit followed by Celsius: 86°F (30°C) materiel Refers to military materials and equipment military ranks Use the abbreviations from the Associated Press Stylebook—Gen., Lt Gen., 1st Lt., Sgt., Adm., Lt Cmdr., Lt j.g., etc Abbreviate a rank when it precedes a full name; spell it out when it precedes a last name For first mention, include the person’s full name and rank (abbreviated) After that, refer to people by their last name or their last name preceded by the shortened form of their rank (e.g., General, rather than Brigadier General) See more at table at end of this document 2/20/18 military services U.S Air Force, the Air Force, USAF; the Army Air Service, Army Air Corps, Army Air Forces U.S Army, the Army, USA U.S Marine Corps, the Marines, USMC; a Marine U.S Navy, the Navy, USN Generally lowercase references to foreign services unless they are proper nouns: The Royal Air Force, the Luftwaffe, the Russian air force, the British navy, the German army model labels Title—In general don’t use term “model” in title, except when needed to clarify that the object is not the actual craft (as in spacecraft artifacts) Capitalize first letter of all important words If “Model” is used in title, add scale notation (see below) if known Dates—For spacecraft model as artifact, the date of production or issuance may be placed in the title, however it is preferred to include dates in the label copy For model of aircraft, place date when model was made (when known) in credit line, after model maker’s name Scale notation—Place the scale notation above the credit line Use the ratio format followed by “scale” (lower case), e.g., 1:16 scale If no ratio is given, use “scale model.” For actual size, use “full-scale model” rather than ratio format Credit line—Use italics in script to distinguish from text; when date that the model was made is known, include after name see example: Santos-Dumont Airship No Santos-Dumont brought the No 9, his smallest airship, to the U.S to compete at the 1904 St Louis World’s Fair It was damaged during shipping, which Santos-Dumont thought was sabotage, and so he refused to fly during his visit to the U.S 1:16 scale Model by John C Smith, 1963 NACA, NASA The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the NACA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA NASA research centers—On first mention, refer to as NASA’s Ames Research Center, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, etc NASA may be dropped from subsequent use In exhibit label credit lines, drop the possessive: NASA Ames Research Center 2/20/18 names and titles Include the title of a person (including an SI staff member) with the first mention of the person’s name Capitalize the title only when used before the name, with some exceptions: Secretary, Board of Regents, the Chief Justice, Chancellor, Regent, President of the United States, Vice President of the United States, First Lady For published matter and works of popular culture (songs, books, games, etc.), use italics When used in a header, and italics may interfere with header design, quotes may be used instead Example: “Aviation: The Air Mail Game” Jumping on the public’s enthusiasm for aviation, Parker Brothers introduced Aviation: The Air Mail Game in 1929 nicknames and epithets When used within a full name (typically on first mention of the person), enclose in quotation marks: Charles E “Chuck” Yeager, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin When used as part of, or a substitute for, the name, not include quotes: Chuck Yeager, Buzz Aldrin night fighter Generally two words; the P-61 Black Widow night fighter numbers numerals or words—Spell out one through nine, first through ninth, and Use figures for 10 and above, measurements (12 miles), money ($6), percentages (3%), and time (2:30 p.m.) When the number is the first word in a sentence, spell out number and the associated symbol: Seventy-one percent of Earth’s surface is water Use commas for figures over 1,000 fractions—Spell out common fractions (one-half, two-thirds) unless they are part of a compound word (This 1/2-scale model was used to test optical properties.) percent—When used with a numerical value, use symbol (%), not word, except in the beginning of a sentence, when both should be spelled out as words—“The Greenland Ice Sheet is a vast body of ice which covers almost 80% of the island nation”; “Eighty percent of Greenland’s surface is covered by an ice sheet.” military units—Spell out numerals less than 100: Fifth Army, Second Infantry Division, Third Battalion, Seventy-seventh Regiment, 323d Fighter Wing, 122d Artillery years and centuries—Do not use abbreviations for a year (the class of ’84) unless the century for the particular year is clear from context When identifying a decade, use s without an apostrophe (1990s); for more than one decade, use parallel construction, (the 1960s and 1970s, rather than the 1960s and ‘70s) Write the century all in line with no superscript (20th century) 2/20/18 object ID Do not use a period when written as a sentence fragment, see example: (for medal, an object ID): Medal commemorating the achievements of Count von Zeppelin paragraph style Text is flush left, no indent Leave one space between sentences and one line space between paragraphs See more at “Typographical Tips” in Exhibit Script and Style Guidelines planetary features Do not italicize names of planetary features, such as Olympus Mons or Valles Marineris planet names, adjectives Capitalize Martian, Venusian, Jovian, but lowercase solar and lunar and terrestrial planet names, possessive Mars’s, Venus’s political party affiliations Use parentheses to set off party and state, no periods, use letter postal abbreviation, and hyphenate: Rep Don Fuqua (D-FL) race car two words reference label see SI-link reproduction, replica According to the Museum’s chief curator, a replica is a copy by the original maker; a reproduction is a copy by someone else 2/20/18 SI-link This is a label that refers the visitor to locate a major Smithsonian object that is mentioned in a gallery label or caption, but not on view in that gallery Used for major artifacts in NASM (e.g., aircraft or spacecraft) or other major objects/collections on exhibit at another Smithsonian unit Use the following formats: See [object name] in [Gallery Name] on the [first/second] floor; See [object name] at the Museum’s Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia For these gallery names, include the name of the donor in the label: Boeing Milestones of Flight Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight Examples: See an original Lilienthal glider in Early Flight on the first floor See the 1903 Wright Flyer in The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age, on the first floor See Hoover’s North American Rockwell Shrike Commander at the Museum’s Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia Visit Experience Migration at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo See how scientists use satellite tracking to follow bird movements Space Age Capitalize when referring to the period of time, but not when using it as an adjective: space-age technologies space artifact specifications For a list of possible categories, see table at end of document spacecraft spacecraft names—Italicize “personal” names of manned spacecraft: Mercury Freedom 7, Space Shuttle Challenger Do not italicize names of robotic spacecraft: Voyager 1, Galileo, Cassini Gemini and Apollo—Use English numerals, except for Gemini spacecraft after the third mission: Apollo 11, Gemini 3, Gemini IV Space Shuttle—The Space Shuttle program; the Space Shuttle, Space Shuttle Discovery, a shuttle, the shuttle Space Shuttle mission STS-6, STS 61-A, 41-C (inconsistent; consult with curator) International Space Station—The International Space Station, the space station, space station astronauts; avoid ISS in text spacecraft components—Generally lowercase: lunar module, command module, shuttle orbiter However; Viking Lander, Viking Orbiter; the Viking lander, the orbiter spaceflight, spacesuit, spacewalk One word Space Race Capitalize 10 2/20/18 SpaceShipOne Note capitalization and lack of spacing takeoff, take off One word as a noun, two as a verb; no hyphen technical specifications labels These labels list in tabular form technical details about an aircraft, spacecraft, or other major artifact Refer to Aircraft and Space Artifact Specifications at the end of this document Abbreviate throughout: round off figures as needed and use twoletter state abbreviations Be as consistent as possible but flexible when necessary Measurements—Use English followed by metric, (except for UHC labels, where old style prevails as metric followed by English) Abbreviate without punctuation: “110 ft (33.5 m)” time zones Use abbreviations, capitalized, and in parentheses: Example: Eagle landed at 4:18 p.m (EDT), on July 20, 1969 trademark symbols Avoid the use of trademarks in exhibit labels If a donor insists on using a trademark symbol (® or ™), then its appearance should be as discreet as possible, preferably in a credit line But see VELCRO  brand below Tranquility Base Single “l”; however, Mare Tranquillitatis, Tranquillitatis Basin Truman, Harry S Use period with middle initial United States, U.S., USA Spell out as a noun, abbreviate with periods as an adjective If noun is used repetitively in the script, it can be abbreviated after first use U.S is generally preferred over USA Universe Capitalized in Explore the Universe, because it is the main subject of the exhibition, but otherwise it can be lowercase USS No periods: USS Arizona USSR You may drop periods VELCRO brand Always capitalize the trademarked name and follow with registration symbol, , the word “brand,” and the generic name of the fastener or tape Example: The VELCRO brand strap allowed Collins to attach it on the outside of his spacesuit during launch and reentry Wright brothers Lowercase brothers Wright Flyer The 1903 Wright Flyer, the Wright Flyer No italics; the date comes first 11 2/20/18 Military Ranks The following table of ranks and their abbreviations was copied from the AP style guide These abbreviations may differ from those used by the military Abbreviate a rank when it precedes a full name; spell out a rank when it precedes a last name For first mention, include the person’s full name and full rank (use the abbreviation) For subsequent mention use the last name only (AP style) or the last name preceded by the shortened form of the rank (e.g., General, rather than Brigadier General) ARMY Commissioned Officers general lieutenant general major general brigadier general colonel lieutenant colonel major captain first lieutenant second lieutenant Gen Lt Gen Maj Gen Brig Gen Col Lt Col Maj Capt 1st Lt 2nd Lt Warrant Officers chief warrant officer warrant officer Chief Warrant Officer Warrant Officer Enlisted Personnel sergeant major of the Army command sergeant major sergeant major first sergeant master sergeant sergeant first class staff sergeant sergeant corporal specialist private first class private Sgt Maj of the Army Command Sgt Maj Sgt Maj 1st Sgt Master Sgt Sgt 1st Class Staff Sgt Sgt Cpl Spc Pfc Pvt 12 2/20/18 NAVY, COAST GUARD Commissioned Officers admiral vice admiral rear admiral upper half rear admiral lower half captain commander lieutenant commander lieutenant lieutenant junior grade ensign Adm Vice Adm Rear Adm Rear Adm Capt Cmdr Lt Cmdr Lt Lt j.g Ensign Warrant Officers chief warrant officer warrant officer Chief Warrant Officer Warrant Officer Enlisted Personnel master chief petty officer of the Navy senior chief petty officer chief petty officer petty officer first class petty officer second class petty officer third class seaman seaman apprentice seaman recruit Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Chief Petty Officer Petty Officer 1st Class Petty Officer 2nd Class Petty Officer 3rd Class Seaman Seaman Apprentice Seaman Recruit MARINE CORPS Ranks and abbreviations for commissioned officers are the same as those in the Army Warrant officer ratings follow the same system used in the Navy There are no specialist ratings Enlisted Personnel sergeant major of the Marine Corps master gunnery sergeant master sergeant first sergeant gunnery sergeant staff sergeant sergeant corporal lance corporal private first class private Sgt Maj of the Marine Corps Master Gunnery Sgt Master Sgt 1st Sgt Gunnery Sgt Staff Sgt Sgt Cpl Lance Cpl Pfc Pvt 13 2/20/18 AIR FORCE Ranks and abbreviations for commissioned officers are the same as those in the Army Enlisted Personnel chief master sergeant of the Air Force chief master sergeant senior master sergeant master sergeant technical sergeant staff sergeant senior airman airman first class airman airman basic Chief Master Sgt of the Air Force Chief Master Sgt Senior Master Sgt Master Sgt Tech Sgt Staff Sgt Senior Airman Airman 1st Class Airman Airman 14 2/20/18 Aircraft Specifications Specifications should refer to the aircraft on display, not the aircraft type in general The categories included will vary depending on the particular object Wingspan: Round off to nearest inch and 0.1 meter (“Rotor diameter” for vertical flight aircraft.) Length: Round off to nearest inch and 0.1 meter Height: Round off to nearest inch and 0.1 meter (omit for hang gliders) Weight, empty: Round off to nearest lb and kg (Just use “Weight” if both empty and gross are not included May include “Weight, aerobatic” as special case) Weight, gross: Round off to nearest lb and kg Top speed: Round off to nearest mph (km/h) (Usually for air transportation only.) Engine(s): Number (if more than one), name, and horsepower (abbreviated as hp) or thrust Sometimes included: inline, rotary, # cylinders, overhead V, etc Crew: Include only if the airplane had a crew of two or more Armament: Include only if the airplane carried it Keep as brief as possible Ordnance: Use English/metric equivalents only for total bomb load; otherwise use 100-lb or 500-kg bomb without equivalent Manufacturer: Company, location, year If any of these are unknown, it’s okay to leave out Drop Inc and Ltd and use two-letter postal code for state (“Builder” if aircraft was built by one or more people rather than built in quantity.) Space Artifact Specifications Include specifications blocks for rockets, missiles, and launch vehicles (but not scale models), and for manned and unmanned spacecraft (including training versions), but not instruments or components from them Length: Or “Height.” Round off to near nearest inch and 0.1 meter Width: Only included for a few relevant objects Weight: Rounded off to nearest lb and kg Sometimes “Weight, loaded” or “Weight, operational.” Weight, warhead: Or “Weight, payload.” Round off to nearest lb and kg Range: For missiles Thrust: In pounds and newtons These figures should refer to total thrust Propellants: Manufacturer: Include where provided Company, location if important, year of manufacture if known Drop Inc and Ltd and use two-letter postal code for state Categories Rockets, Missiles, and Launch Vehicles Length Weight 15 2/20/18 Weight, warhead or payload Range (missiles) Thrust Propellants Manufacturer Rocket Engines Length Weight Thrust Propellants Manufacturer Others Length or height Width, when appropriate Weight Manufacturer 16 2/20/18 .. .Editorial Style Guidelines abbreviations This applies to running label text; for specification blocks, see technical specification labels... special exceptions for compound measurements in measurements below Follow Chicago Style Manual guidelines on when to abbreviate titles with names, but use the Associated Press Stylebook military... “around” for a natural, conversational tone capitalization in titles Default for label titles (e.g., headers, subheads, active learning labels, object names) is headline -style (‘up style? ??) Exceptions