What if I find offensive content while I’m transcribing and reviewing?

This is a question we get frequently from staff at the Library and some volunteers, but you're right that participants rarely report back on their experiences of encountering offensive or otherwise problematic content. The disclaimer on the crowdsourcing site reads:

"The language and terminology used in the historical materials on crowd.loc.gov reflect the context and culture of their creators, and may include words, phrases, and attitudes that would now be deemed insensitive, inappropriate or factually inaccurate, or not appropriate for all ages. Views expressed in historical documents do not reflect the views of the Library of Congress. Because the purpose of crowd.loc.gov is to make the Library’s collections searchable, we ask that all original content be transcribed as it appears in the original material. If you find some material offensive or upsetting, please choose something else to transcribe."

We also hope that people will feel comfortable raising these difficult issues here on History Hub, and that together we can engage in respectful discussion about them.