Q. Greetings! If I’m interpreting CMOS 8.69 correctly, in a novel that takes place in NYC, should I suggest the author change “the Natural History Museum” (in narrative) to either “the natural history museum” or “the American Museum of Natural History” (the official name)? For some reason “the natural history museum” looks a little odd to me, but I also feel that it shouldn’t be capitalized because it’s not the official name. Many thanks for any advice!
A. You could just change the order to “the Museum of Natural History”; add “American” before “Museum” only if the context seems to call for using the full name. And though you could emulate Oxford University—which refers to itself either like that or as the University of Oxford—it’s probably best to stick more closely to what is in this case the museum’s official name. Any of the following would then be correct:
the American Museum of Natural History; the Museum of Natural History; the Natural History museum (lowercase m); the museum; a natural history museum in New York City
That way, sticklers can’t object that the name of the museum is wrong—or that the author is referring to the natural history museum in London or Los Angeles or San Diego—though not the museum in Oxford, which is the Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH) or, less often, the University of Oxford Museum of Natural History.