The Style Guide

Standards and Guidelines for the Preparation of Public Texts
at the Canadian Museum of History and the Canadian War Museum

Prepared by the Publishing and Corporate Products team
Corporate Affairs Branch
Canadian Museum of History
100 Laurier Street
Gatineau QC K1A 0M8
Canada

Purpose of The Style Guide

This style guide presents the standards and guidelines that are to be followed for the preparation of all public texts at the Canadian Museum of History (CMH), which includes the Canadian War Museum (CWM). In doing so, the intent of the guide is to ensure that public written texts from the Museums are presented in a clear and consistent style, following professional writing and editorial standards.

The Style Guide is to be applied to both physical and digital texts. The standards presented are to be applied to websites, brochures, newsletters, exhibit labels, press releases, e-blasts, souvenir exhibition catalogues, published speeches, media backgrounders, invitations, social media posts, etc. Any text that is to be disseminated to an external audience must follow the standards set out in this guide.

Internal documents need not adhere to The Style Guide. However, we encourage you to apply this guide to internal documents as well, if only to entrench a consistent style throughout CMH (which includes CWM) in all of its communications, both internal and external.

How to Use The Style Guide

The Style Guide is organized into six thematic sections:

1. Authorities: CMH has adopted standards for style, spelling, translation, geography and First Nations terminology. Those authorities are presented in this first section.
2. Words: This section presents CMH standards for capitalization, compound words and hyphenation, abbreviations, addresses and geography, lists, trade names, the elimination of bias and stereotyping, and spelling exceptions.
3. Numbers: This section presents CMH general rules for numerical expressions, including measurements, age, dates, money, time and phone numbers.
4. Punctuation and typography: This section presents CMH standards in the fascinating world of dashes, commas, colons, semicolons, obliques, quotation marks, exclamation marks and ellipsis points. It also covers spacing and the use of italics and emphasis.
5. Application to corporate products: This section provides a number of examples of style required for CMH products, including exhibition labels and exhibition credits.
6. Corporate terminology: This section presents a useful index of exhibition titles, place names, military titles, etc. used and in use at the Canadian Museum of History and the Canadian War Museum.

The Style Guide is a “living document.” As our language and our approaches to communication evolve, so must our standards for style, spelling, punctuation, etc. So, as you use The Style Guide, please send any questions, comments or suggestions to Lee Wyndham in Corporate Affairs (phone: 819-776-8385; email: lee.wyndham@historymuseum.ca). Your input will be reviewed and, if accepted, The Style Guide will be updated.

Please remember that The Style Guide focuses on frequently asked questions and common issues encountered at our two Museums, with examples of commonly produced corporate documents. For detailed guidelines to style, spelling, geography, translation and First Nations terminology, refer to the authorities presented in Section 1 of the guide.

Table of Contents

Section 1. Authorities

1.1 Style
1.2 Spelling
1.3 Translation
1.4 Geography
1.5 First Nations

Section 2. Words

2.1 Capitalization
2.2 Compound Words and Hyphenation
2.3 Abbreviations
2.4 Addresses and Geography
2.5 Lists
2.6 Trade Names
2.7 Elimination of Bias and Stereotyping
2.8 Spelling Exceptions and Preferences

Section 3. Numbers

3.1 General Rules

3.2 Measurement and Age

3.3 Dates

3.4 Money

3.5 Time

3.6 Phone Numbers

Section 4. Punctuation and Typography

4.1 Dashes

4.2 Commas

4.3 Colons, Semicolons and Obliques

4.4 Quotation Marks

4.5 Exclamation Marks

4.5 Italics and Emphasis

4.6 Spacing

4.7 Ellipsis Points

Section 5. Application to Corporate Products

5.1 Exhibition Titles

5.2 Exhibition Labels

5.3 Canadian War Museum Collections Accreditation Formats

5.4 Exhibition Credits

5.5 Photo Credits: Canadian Museum of History

5.6 Invitations

Section 6. Corporate Terminology

6.1 Permanent Exhibitions and Displays

6.2 Special Exhibitions and Displays

6.3 Place Names

6.4 Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples

6.5 Special Terms and Terminology

6.6 Military Terminology and Dates

6.7 Titles and Honours