Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.

Hello everyone! I'm Victoria, one of the Community Managers for our crowdsourcing effort at the Library of Congress. I worked on a few online crowdsourcing projects before I came to the Library, and I have a background in Renaissance and Medieval English literature. I'm also passionate about American literature and history--and excited to learn more! It's a privilege to work at the Library with such knowledgeable and talented staff who devote their lives to making the Library's treasures accessible to all. Thank you for taking part in crowd.loc.gov and helping with this important work. I look forward to the day when all of our manuscript and printed material is fully searchable on the Library's catalog.

Hello everyone! I'm Victoria, one of the Community Managers for our crowdsourcing effort at the Library of Congress. I worked on a few online crowdsourcing projects before I came to the Library, and I have a background in Renaissance and Medieval English literature. I'm also passionate about American literature and history--and excited to learn more! It's a privilege to work at the Library with such knowledgeable and talented staff who devote their lives to making the Library's treasures accessible to all. Thank you for taking part in crowd.loc.gov and helping with this important work. I look forward to the day when all of our manuscript and printed material is fully searchable on the Library's catalog.

Hello Victoria and Community,

When asked what I like to read, I usually say "dead authors." By that I mean classics, diaries, historical documents, stuff that makes the general public drift to another corner of the party room.

In the past few years I've broadened my scope to include mainstream novels, including the mash-up I'm currently reading, "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," which had me amused til i read the insult held in its summary, touting itself as a book transforming "...a masterpiece of world literature into something you'd actually want to read." To uphold the honor of those of us who have a passion for unadulterated classics, I drew my blood-crusty cutlass and shredded the book to bits.

I have to say that finding this transcription call has saved my sanity, as my real-world job which has for so long been a joy is quickly becoming zombified, and I need the clean air that transcribing seems to bring. To be reading things that were written by hands once virile, and glimpse the minds and souls behind the penmanship, is thrilling! the ultimate mash-up of past and present, and a sort of voyeurism that feels unifying in a deep way.

Cheers!

Suzanne.

Hi Suzanne, we are tocayos and I really appreciate your characterization of transcription as fresh air as well as your nod to the writers and original transcribers of these documents. We forget that our current dependence on triplicate in law dates back and these documents were transcribed typically in hand and printing press. What a lovely celebration of writing, printing, and the manuscript! 

Hello, "tocayo"!.... I've been away from this site for a year and a half, so coming home to a challenge in translation has been a good welcome-back. I learned a word that was not covered in high school Spanish all those years ago!

I've always loved the conversational aspect of these posts, and I've missed the historical voyeurism and the riddling-out of written pages. I am looking forward to exploring the new campaigns, and I am also eager to return to Lincoln's Letters to help bring that campaign to its close.

Suzanne.