Periods
Most period designations are lowercased except for proper nouns and adjectives. "Some names applied to historical or cultural periods are capitalized either by tradition or to avoid ambiguity. Such appellations are not enclosed in quotation marks." (32)
Age of Reason
baroque period
classical period
colonial period (U.S.)
Common Era
Dark Ages
Enlightenment
Gilded Age
golden age
Hellenistic period
Jazz Age
medieval era
Middle Ages
Progressive Era
Reformation, Counter-Reformation
Renaissance, High Renaissance
Restoration
Roaring Twenties
romantic period
Victorian era
“Names of prehistoric cultural periods are capitalized: Bronze Age, Ice Age, Iron Age, Stone Age. Analogous terms for modern periods are lowercased: age of steam, nuclear age, information age.” (33)
Events
“Names of many major historical events and projects are capitalized. Others, more recent or known by their generic descriptions, are usually lowercased. If in doubt, do not capitalize.” (34)
baby boom
Boston Tea Party
civil rights movement
gold rush
Great Depression
Great Society
Industrial Revolution
New Deal
Prohibition
Reign of Terror
War on Poverty
Cultural Movements and Styles
“Nouns and adjectives designating cultural styles, movements, and schools are capitalized if derived from proper nouns.” (35) Others are usually lowercased unless capitalization is needed to distinguish the name of a movement or group from the same word in its general sense (e.g., Cynic, cynic).” (36)
abstract expressionism
baroque
Cartesian
classical
conceptualism
cubism
Cynicism
Dadaism
deconstruction
Epicurean
existentialism
fauvism
Gothic
Gregorian chant
Hellenism
humanism
idealism
imagism
impressionism
mannerism
modernism
neoclassicism
Neoplatonism
nominalism
op art
Platonism
postimpressionism
postmodernism
pre-Raphaelite
realism
rococo
Romanesque
romanticism
Sophist
Stoicism
structuralism
surrealism
symbolism
theater of the absurd
transcendentalism
(32) Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition (1993), 7.64
(33) Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (2003), 8.80
(34) Ibid., 8.81
(35) Ibid., 8.85
(36) Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition (1993), 7.69
