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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Victoria Van HyningOct 23, 2018 9:45 AM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)
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.
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
suzanne piecuch Dec 2, 2018 9:31 AM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)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 By that I mean classics, diaries, historical documents, stuff that makes the general public drift to another corner of the party room.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.
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Lauren AlgeeOct 23, 2018 10:55 AM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)
Hi Crowd! I’m Lauren Algee, another of the Community Managers for crowd.loc.gov. I’m excited to help lifelong learners and the historically curious out there connect with the Library of Congress and its vast and fascinating collections.
My background is as an archivist and before coming to the Library of Congress I worked at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History in Austin, Texas, the National Gallery of Art, and the DC Public Library (DCPL). At DCPL I managed the library’s digital local history collections. I also co-founded the DC Public Library's Memory Lab, a public space for digitization and learning how to care for your personal digital archives. I now serve on the board of the Memory Lab Network and encourage you to see if there’s a Memory Lab in your area!
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Meghan FerriterOct 24, 2018 9:09 AM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)
Hi everyone! I'm Meghan and I'm a Community Manager, too. I'm really looking forward to collaborating, sharing interesting things we find in our collections, and hearing more about what sparks your interest in history. The Library of Congress has such depth of resources and we're thrilled people are keen to help make them more searchable and useful to many people.
Before I joined the Library of Congress, I had the chance to learn from and partner with volunteers at the Smithsonian Transcription Center. I hope you'll explore those projects, as well. My background is as a historian and cultural anthropologist - across my research experiences, I've tried to understand the ways people share information, work together, work through conflict, and use stories and digital spaces to understand and relate to each other.
Can't wait to hear more about what you think of and find in our first challenge: Letters to Lincolnhttps://crowd.loc.gov/campaigns/letters-to-lincoln/!
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Beth Graham Dec 10, 2018 11:40 AM (in response to Meghan Ferriter)Cool to see you here! Siobhan Leachman was instrumental a little more than a year ago in getting me interested in doing dedicated volunteer work with the Smithsonian Institution Transcription Center and, through her, I've followed you on Twitter, too.
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Elaine KamlleyOct 24, 2018 9:23 AM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)
Hi folks! I'm Elaine and the fourth Community Manager. Along with my colleagues, I am beyond excited to collaborate and learn from you all. Please let us know what you find interesting, what sparks your curiosity or what features you'd like to see in the application.
Prior to joining the Library of Congress, I was working at 18F, an office within the General Services Administration. 18F collaborates with other agencies to improve how government serves the public through technology.
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Kelly OsbornOct 24, 2018 10:22 AM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)
CROWD looks amazing! I can't wait to give it a try.
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Alan WalkerOct 26, 2018 10:01 AM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)
1 person found this helpfulHi all. I'm a processing archivist here at NARA, and community manager for the "Researchers Help" space here on History Hub. Having spent the first half of my career working with NARA's photo collections, I am naturally drawn to LC's fabulous collections too. Recently I spent a great deal of time annoying the Prints and Photographs staff with caption submissions for some of the distressingly large number of "no caption" images in the National Photo Co. and Harris & Ewing collections. The most rewarding part was identifying two of NARA's early division chiefs:
Roscoe Hill, Division of Classification, ca. 1935
Thomas M. Owen, Division of Accessions, ca. 1935
With over 30,000 images labeled "no caption" in the Harris & Ewing collection (and many more with such
informative captions as "Man seated at desk"), this might make an excellent CROWD project for the future!
Best wishes to everyone involved with this exciting new venture.
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Victoria Van HyningOct 26, 2018 2:11 PM (in response to Alan Walker)
Thanks for introducing yourself Alan, and for outlining your request/hope for additional functionality and collection types in Crowd. We've had a lot of in-house enthusiasm for this kind of functionality as we built crowd.loc.gov over the last year. It's definitely something we're keen to explore.
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shawnmarie Nov 1, 2018 7:37 PM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)Hi everyone. I'm ShawnMarie from PA. I have a little bit of a paper problem - in love with all of it. :-) My favorite things are women's magazines from the war years, recipes and maps. I have a degree in Geography but my day job is in IT Data management. I've always wanted to be a librarian and to help people find things they want to know more about so hoping I can help out this way.
ShawnMarie
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Victoria Van HyningNov 2, 2018 9:39 AM (in response to shawnmarie)
Welcome Shawn! We're so glad that you can fulfill some of your desire to help people navigate cultural heritage by taking part in this project. Thanks for donating your time and for introducing yourself. Happy transcribing, tagging and reviewing!
-Victoria, a fellow lover of paper and its digital manifestations
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sstriker Nov 2, 2018 11:39 AM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)Hi everyone! My name is Sheena and I'm from Ohio. I am the director of the Hardin County Historical Museums, Inc. in Kenton Ohio. My favorite things are old pictures and letters. I have a Master of Arts degree in History. I'm really looking forward to being able to contribute!
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Victoria Van HyningNov 2, 2018 1:08 PM (in response to sstriker)
Welcome Sheena! We hope you'll share the site with friends, family and patrons of your museum! Happy transcribing.
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Filomena Borba Nov 7, 2018 3:41 PM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)Hi everyone! I'm Filomena from Portugal and I work in a University Library. I rely like history and everything related to books. I can't even get near a bookshop, it is my weakness, books. All kind of books and stories. And I'm very happy to collaborate with your project.
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Jennifer Parker Nov 9, 2018 9:28 PM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)1 person found this helpfulHi everyone!
I'm Jennifer and I'm from California. I'm a scientist, but I also enjoy reading and US history. I love libraries too and am happy to contribute to a project that will help a major library make more historical US documents more accessible to everyone. If there are any documents from scientists that need to be transcribed I would be very excited to help out with that as well.
PS, When I was in Washington DC a few years ago I took a tour of the Jefferson building and it was love at first sight
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Victoria Van HyningNov 14, 2018 1:36 PM (in response to Jennifer Parker)
Thanks Jennifer, and welcome! Glad you got to visit the Library in person and that you want to stay connected. There might be some science related material in 2019, but it will depend a little on how much we transcribe of the collections that are already online.
If you are able to join us virtually next Monday--the 19th of November--we're hosting an in person and virtual event around the 155th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, which will also serve as a launch event for Crowd. Everyone is encouraged to sign on and take part in the Letters to Lincoln Challenge. Learn more here: https://crowd-dev.loc.gov/latest/
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Henry Rosenberg Nov 30, 2018 6:27 PM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)Hi. My name is Henry. I have a lifelong interest in History. I ahe read so much on Lincoln but was disappointed that EVERYBODY wanted to work on his papers and they were done quickly. I have chosen to focus on Mary Church Terrell. Amazing woman. One of the founders of the NAACP. She lived from 1863-1954. I'm learning a lot about Jim Crow and the discrimination African-Americans faced over the years. I have become adept at reading her handwriting so if anybody has questions, feel free to contact me. Among the tips, she frequently does not cross her small t's so they sometimes look like L's. She also will carry over words from one line to the other without a hyphen. If I think of anything else I will post it.
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Jennifer Parker Dec 3, 2018 1:21 PM (in response to Henry Rosenberg)1 person found this helpfulI also noticed how many people gravitated toward the Lincoln papers, so I clicked around the other campaigns to see what other documents might need some love. I decided to focus on William Oland Bourne and his Left-Hand Penmanship Contest. Many of the entrants saw action in the most famous Civil War battles, and reading their first-person accounts has given me a completely new perspective on the war. Because so many different people entered, it is more challenging to read all of the handwriting, but it's a challenge I enjoy. One tip I can give is that a lot of people back then used something similar to the German esset for words with a double "s;" many times it will look like there is an "fs" in a word which has a double "s."
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Rebecca M Dec 3, 2018 1:02 AM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)Hi all, I'm a government attorney by profession, but I took up genealogy as a hobby about 20 years ago. In the process of researching my ancestors, I became pretty adept at deciphering the handwriting in old documents. I studied the different styles of 19th century copperplate scripts and learned how to puzzle out the meaning from the scribbles. I hope I can put my somewhat estoteric skills to work for this historical project.
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christymferg Dec 3, 2018 8:31 AM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)Hi folks --
I live in Durham, NC. I'm a fan of history and have always loved primary documents. I've long been a fan of the oral histories and photos from the Depression era that were made available by the LOC fifteen or so years ago.
I love a challenge and it's interesting to me how quickly my visual system is being retrained to be able to read handwriting again, though I see so little of it now in my day-to-day life.
So far, two of my favorites are a letter from someone who lost his position as paymaster, begging/demanding to be reinstated (I felt put-off and sorry for him in turns while reading), and the gift of a salmon by a Maine eccentric (and it was jarring to remember that as recently as 150 years ago, salmon was native).
I look forward to transcribing more of these letters, and things from other collections. I'd be particularly interested in working on earlier materials after these.
-Christy
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Henry Rosenberg Dec 10, 2018 11:09 AM (in response to christymferg)Hi Christy. What I have found is that the French is in the early diaries. I did some but tired of it. Plus I didn't have a French keyboard. Unfortunately you have to look for it. Good luck. Henry
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Lauren AlgeeDec 4, 2018 3:35 PM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)
Welcome Christy Ferguson, Rebecca M, and Henry Rosenberg! I'm excited that you've joined us in this transcription adventure and that you bring varied and interesting interest (but uniform enthusiasm) to the Library's collections!
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Christina McCormack Dec 8, 2018 10:48 AM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)Hello! I'm a social studies and science teacher in southern WV. I was initially drawn to the Lincoln papers, but after discovering the Mary Church Terrell campaign I was hooked. I am particularly interested in early 20th century America and I am inspired by her work. Since French was one of the areas I studied in college (in addition to history and psychology) I have enjoyed transcribing the documents in French, and I wish there was a way to search specifically for these documents. If there is, let me know. Like others, I hope that be assisting with this project I will contribute to history in some small way and learn along the way myself.
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Victoria Van HyningDec 10, 2018 10:54 AM (in response to Christina McCormack)
1 person found this helpfulWelcome Christina! Mary Church Terrell is inspiring, isn't she?!
You bring a great skill set to this project. Thanks for making time.
There isn't a way of searching for specific languages on crowd.loc.gov yet, but here's a work around:
- Navigate from a Campaign, to a Project, to an Item (any one will do) for the person or collection your interested in.
- Click "view on loc.gov" button
- Get to the Item on loc.gov and locate the finding aid, usually on the right hand side of the page.
- Click the finding aid and then use the "search this finding aid" search field at the top to run a search. When I entered the word "french" into the box I came up with a few hits. Once you know what these items are called, you'll be able to go back into crowd.loc.gov to find them. From what I found her diaries from 1888-1890 are kept in French and German, so that's probably a good place to start.
Keep us posted on your progress!
-Victoria, Community Manager
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suzanne piecuch Dec 10, 2018 11:25 AM (in response to Christina McCormack)Hi Christina,
Just another transcriber here, who found her way to history through literature.
I was awed seeing the multi-lingual transcriptions, and I think it's an extra talent to be able to do that, and i don't mean just being multi-lingual. I used to read and write in Polish when my parents lived, and it was interesting to see how my relatives' handwriting was different from anything I saw in the states. The script was finer, closer, not slanted, and distinguishable, and the letters themselves were slightly different cursive. Perhaps it was a family thing, but I suspect it was a cultural one.
That said, one had to familiarize oneself with that style in order to make out words that were difficult to begin with. But it was a puzzle I enjoyed, and a puzzle I enjoy still as I learn the styles of individuals' hands and go back time and again with an "a--HA!" and manage to unravel what at first seemed indecipherable.
Suzanne.
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Beth Graham Dec 10, 2018 11:38 AM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)Hi, All --
I'm one of those "lifelong learner" types who likes to do a variety of things. I've been a children's and reference librarian, a proofreader, an elementary school supply (substitute) teacher, and crochet designer and teacher, and, most recently, a dedicated transcription volunteer with the Smithsonian Institution's Freemen's Bureau Project.
Glad to be here, too!
Beth
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Lauren AlgeeDec 10, 2018 12:58 PM (in response to Beth Graham)
Hi, Beth! Happy to see you here on History Hub!
I'm an embroiderer and sometimes find inspiration in archival collections -- I wonder if your crocheting is ever influenced by your travels through historic materials?
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Beth Graham Dec 10, 2018 2:24 PM (in response to Lauren Algee)1 person found this helpfulActually, it hasn't been so far. I'm always on the lookout for references to knitting, though, in my reading travels. (I'm an addicted knitter of socks.) If you're interested at all in knitting history, you should check out Anne Macdonald's book No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting. You might also be interested in Rose Wilder Lane's sometimes informative meanderings in Woman's Day Book of American Needlework, which covers all manner of handicrafts. (Bonus: Wilder Lane is Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter, and there are photos of some family handiwork included.)
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Julianne Mangin Dec 11, 2018 9:13 AM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)My name is Julianne Mangin, but you can call me Julie. I retired from the Library of Congress in 2011. I was a librarian and website developer. When I arrived in 1998, I was put to work on the online exhibits. I loved the work. I was also one of the people who coordinated the look and content of the reading room websites.
In retirement, I have been researching my family history and have written a book, which I am trying to get published. You can find out about it by going to a URL that is my full name plus .com. I also research local cemeteries and recently participated in a county survey of known burial sites. I have another website called petcemeterystories dot net where I post articles on the history I have uncovered about Aspin Hill Cemetery for Pet Animals, now known as Aspin Hill Memorial Park.
There are two reasons I have decided to participate in this crowd sourcing endeavor. The first is because I needed just this kind of help while researching the family history. This is my way of paying back. The second is that much of my family story has to do with the many women in my ancestry who were mentally ill patients at state hospitals in New England. I read in your newsletter that the history of psychiatry is a future project, and I would really like to see what you have. In the meantime, I am working on the Mary Church Terrell papers, so I will be ready. Incidentally, I transcribed some letters in French in that collection. It was a challenge, but I didn't know if you have any other transcribers with that ability.
Julie
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suzanne piecuch Dec 12, 2018 10:03 PM (in response to Julianne Mangin)Fascinating interests, Julie!
Regarding your interest in psychiatry, have you ever been to the Glore Psychiatry Museum in Missouri? I stumbled upon it some years ago. Quite the surreal experience, as it's housed in an old ward and was creepily empty but for the displays of bizarre therapy methods and related paraphernalia.
Also, I think of Nellie Bly who got herself committed in order to write an article about psychiatric wards. She had some nerve! Her story, "10 days in a Madhouse" is an intense chilling read and thankfully led to some reforms, if I remember it correctly.
I look forward to checking out your website.
Suzanne.
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Lauren AlgeeDec 13, 2018 12:46 PM (in response to Julianne Mangin)
Seconding suzanne piecuch's comments that family history sounds super interesting! And I appreciate the thought in wanting to pay some transcription forward into the history community!
We do have some exciting materials on the history of psychiatry lined up for release, hopefully in the next year. But in the meantime you might find your interests peaked by the already-available diaries of Clara Barton. Barton struggled with depression and mental exhaustion throughout her life. In 1876 she moved to a Danville, New York sanitorium for recuperation. In 1883-1884 Barton also served as superintendent of Women's Reformatory Prison, Sherborn, Massachusetts; I imagine that work would also overlap with your interest in women's institutions.
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Jessica Kissir Dec 12, 2018 11:42 PM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)Hello everyone! I am a public history grad student who loves documents and just really want to get my feet wet in the world of archives. This looks like it's going to be so much fun! I love research, books, American history, and this is like the best Christmas present ever!
Thanks!
Jess
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Lauren AlgeeDec 13, 2018 11:27 AM (in response to Jessica Kissir)
Thanks for joining us, Jessica! Congrats on making it through the semester! I hope as you have questions or thoughts on the intersection of crowdsourcing and public history you'll share them here.
And if you'll allow me to get a little sentimental -- having active and eager volunteers contribute to our projects AND become part of this community is such a gift to us!
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Sharon McKinley Feb 13, 2019 11:40 PM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)1 person found this helpfulIt looks as though folks have stopped introducing themselves. I think it's great to know a bit about fellow transcribers and reviewers, though, so here I am.
I'm a retired music cataloger from the Library of Congress (which is how I know Julie Mangin). I have worked with manuscripts a bit here and there, and with correspondence in German and English. It's a giant puzzle, and I love being able to decipher handwriting. I've flitted about a bit, from Clara Barton to a few Lincoln letters, to Mary Church Terrell's German diaries (but not the ones in the unreadable script!). It's great fun, and it's nice to meet a bunch of like-minded people. Hope to see more of you as time goes on. It's wonderful to be in on the project as it develops, and perhaps contribute to the process.
Sharon McKinley
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Lauren AlgeeFeb 15, 2019 8:27 AM (in response to Sharon McKinley)
Welcome, Sharon! Sorry for mis-identifying you on another thread, but we're very glad you're here. I agree that it's really nice to have a chance to learn about the folks we're working with on this project and chatting with in this space. Thank you for wanting to stay involved with the Library! It's fantastic that you and Julianne Mangin want to bring your experience to this project. Do you have any advice about how me might let other retired staff know about this volunteer opportunity (and do you think they would be interested)?
p.s. We are hoping to eventually have some music-related collections, so stay tuned!
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Henry Rosenberg Feb 15, 2019 8:31 AM (in response to Sharon McKinley)Welcome aboard Jessica. I have been doing the diaries written in English. Please give the German ones a try. At the beginning it was difficult but as you do more, it gets somewhat easier. It is daunting to look at a page and see scribbles but as you learn her letters, it gets easier. Recently, they changed the review process where we can edit pages we had submitted for review and I was shocked at the mistakes I made early on. I can't do the German or French so if you can do German, we really need you. Good luck and welcome.
Henry
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Donna Smillie Jul 2, 2019 12:06 PM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)1 person found this helpfulHello everyone - Donna here.
To paraphrase Anne McCaffrey - I'm Scottish, in my 60s, my hair is silver, and the rest is subject to change without notice.
I have, at various times, been a shop assistant, computer programmer, library assistant, technical support rep, secretary, communications manager, web developer, web accessibility specialist and online technical and admin support person. Heh! They do say variety is the spice of life!
Many years ago, when records started to become available online, I started researching our family history, and spent several years decyphering scanned copies of hand-written official records of births, marriages, deaths, census returns, wills, etc. I found a lot of really useful information in the FamilySearch records, and wanting to give something back in thanks to those who transcribed the records that enabled me to uncover my own family's history, I then started getting involved in transcribing records, so that they'd be available for others to search and read. That was also fuelled by my awareness of how difficult (or impossible) it is for someone with less than perfect sight to access the information contained in scanned documents - they rely on transcriptions to be able to read that information. So for some years I've been doing intermittent bursts of transcribing with FamilySearch and other online services.
Then I recently stumbled across a reference to CROWD and the work being done here with these fascinating documents which are of interest and relevance to people not just in the US, but around the world.
And so here I am to add my little bit.
-- Donna
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Victoria Van HyningJul 2, 2019 2:35 PM (in response to Donna Smillie)
Welcome Donna!
We love to hear from volunteers and the rich experience you all bring to this project. One of the key ingredients to successful crowdsourcing is diversity, so we welcome the 'spice of life'
These are such great reasons for getting involved in transcription in general, and we're of course so glad to have you on By the People in particular. Thanks for sharing your time and experience with us.
-Victoria
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Erin Blake Aug 4, 2019 10:01 PM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)Hello! My name is Erin, and I'm here thanks to someone on Facebook (can't remember who) linking to a blog post (can't remember which) about transcribers being needed for Suffragist documents at the Library of Congress. I'm new to crowd.loc.gov, but not to transcribing: I'm the Senior Cataloger responsible for (among other things) 16th- and 17th-century manuscripts at the Folger Shakespeare Library, so I work with documents being transcribed in Early Modern Manuscripts Online and Shakespeare's World.
The problem with having a job that I love is that it's hard to leave it behind at the end of the work day, and I picked up the bad habit of continuing to putter away at work-related things on evenings and weekends. However, I've recently begun making a concerted effort not to think about work after hours. The enforced change of mental scenery has been good for my well-being, but took away one of my hobbies. Now, thanks to having seen the random blog post, I've got it back!
Reading 19th- and 20th-century cursive is a relaxing change from secretary hand, and I'm enjoying learning about the American women's suffrage movement -- I'm familiar with people and events related to Canadian and British women's rights, but find myself having to do a fair bit of Googling around to figure out who and what are being talked about in these letters. Also, it gives me a kick to see so many Washington, DC, addresses -- yesterday I transcribed a couple of letters that Frederick Douglas wrote to Anna E. Dickinson from a house that I walk past on my way to the bus stop after work.
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Sharon McKinley Aug 5, 2019 12:48 PM (in response to Erin Blake)1 person found this helpfulWelcome, Erin! Lots of folks posted the latest campaign on Facebook, and at least one of my friends has already joined in.
I followed your link, and I think I'll leave the secretary hand to you. No wonder you think this is relaxing! Enjoy!
Sharon McKinley
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Lauren AlgeeAug 9, 2019 6:12 PM (in response to Erin Blake)
2 people found this helpfulHi Erin! Thanks for joining in!
My colleague and fellow community manager, Victoria Van Hyning worked on the Shakespeare's World project as part of the Zooniverse team before joining Library of Congress. We'll have to meet in person sometime as we're next-door work neighbors!
I also love the DC connections throughout the Barton, Whitman, and Lincoln documents -- but especially Mary Church Terrell's! Did you know she was still fighting for civil rights into the 1950s? She participated in integration protests at Landsburgh's Department store downtown when she was nearly 90! The building is at 7th and F NW and has since been named for her and bears a plaque about her activism there. Her home is also still standing in LeDroit Park.
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Henry Rosenberg Aug 9, 2019 7:24 PM (in response to Lauren Algee)1 person found this helpfulIs 7th and F the Terrell Building? I have passed it from time to time.
She also fought to desegregate Thompson's Restaurant in the late 40's to early 50's. I have just come across documents in 1934 where she and others are protesting exclusion of blacks from the House of Representatives restaurant. Can you imagine?
In 1952, she voted for Adlai Stevenson, the first time she had ever voted for a Democrat. Interesting, since she was born while Lincoln was President. She must have realized that the party of Lincoln was not helping blacks with civil rights.
This is fascinating stuff.
Have a good weekend,
Henry
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Erin Blake Aug 10, 2019 11:46 AM (in response to Lauren Algee)Wow -- I had no idea that building was named for her. I'll have to go look for the plaque -- there's no mention of her on the TerrellPlace.com website (though they do mention that "the installation of large-scale reactive media on the main lobby walls and corridor portals creates an immersive experience for tenants and visitors and a sense of connection across the building's common areas." Good grief.)
The letters I'm transcribing, from the late 1930s and early 1940s, are from when she lived at 1615 S St. NW, about a 15-minute walk from my apartment. The 1930 census has her at the S St. address; the 1920 census still has her on T Street.... except that the enumerator hand-wrote it as "Tea," which led whoever transcribed from the microfilm to type in "Jea" so now I'm going down two other rabbit holes: (1) reporting the transcription error in the census document and (2) wondering when it stopped being common to spell out the names of the letter streets other than "Eye" (which is still done, to keep it from being mistaken for 1st St.) -- I've seen both "Tea" and "You" in the Mary Church Terrell Papers.
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Henry Rosenberg Aug 12, 2019 12:39 PM (in response to Erin Blake)2 people found this helpfulHi Erin- I have been transcribing MCT since October. Fascinating stuff. I am doing "Letters Between Allies and Friends." I decided to start at the beginning and am now in 1934.
Yeah, the writing out of street names is interesting. It took me a while to realize what they were doing especially in the handwritten items. From what I have read, she owned 326 T St. but moved to 1615 S Street in the 10's I believe. In reading a biography, it intimated that she may have been separated from Robert(Berto) and they lived apart. 326 T is her official house but it seems to be in disrepair and is not open to visitors.
Here is something I found online about Terrell Place.
By the way, if you like handwritten work and are looking for something to review, I previously transcribed her diaries. Others had reviewed up to 1908. So, if you are interested, you could start in 1909. And if you want me to review your work, let me know what you have worked on.
Henry
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Erin Blake Aug 14, 2019 12:47 PM (in response to Henry Rosenberg)1 person found this helpfulHello, Henry! Looks like I unwittingly dove into the same batch of "Letters Between Allies and Friends" you've been working on. I began with Nov/Dec 1936 and kept on going through December 1954, looking for handwritten letters in order to put my Gen X Superpower of being able to read cursive hands to good use. (It broke my heart seeing Nettie's handwriting and eyesight deteriorate over the years until she was writing one line on top of another, not realizing her paper had slipped.)
I've also been doing undated letters, and reviewing, so will head into MCT's diaries to pick up reviewing your work.
Cheers,
Erin.
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Henry Rosenberg Aug 15, 2019 2:48 PM (in response to Erin Blake)1 person found this helpfulHi Erin- I was wondering if someone else was working in the same area because I noticed the number of documents done was going up faster than I was doing. Actually, I'm glad we are working in the same area. You seem to be working hard and we will be able to clear the section soon. I started at the beginning of Letters to Friends and Allies and am going through them section by section. Many I have edited and they may need to be re-reviewed. Others I have approved. I am up to Jan-Apr 1935 so I will probably get to your work shortly. Keep up the good work. If you need me to check anything you can contact me directly through here. I had been through letters somewhat but I can't remember if I went through them as I have this section. I will head into Lectures once I get through this. Fun stuff. I have learned a lot and gained a greater respect for the Civil Rights effort and disgust for those who allowed Jim Crow and segregation to exist.
Take care,
Henry
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Deborah Hathorn Aug 8, 2019 11:30 PM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)2 people found this helpfulHello - I recently stumbled upon the link for CROWD while visiting the LOC and right away my interest was peeked! I have been in search of an additional volunteer opportunity to coincide with my interests in genealogy, history, and sleuthing and it appears transcribing for CROWD projects offers all this and more.
As a young teen family stories from my grandmother were instrumental in guiding me to the world of genealogy. Initially, I deciphered and transcribed data from family sources such as the back of photos (another passion), bible pages and other handwritten documents. Later, working for a telecommunications company allowed me to transcribe unclear script for quality assurance and accurate billing; furthering my deciphering skills. Soon after, the ever-expanding internet opened a wide world of data which often required verification of transcribed information or deciphering handwriting to confirm the accuracy of family members on census forms. In the past several years I taken advantage of opportunities to travel overseas and discover new sources of family data like a recent visit to the Irish Family History Centre in Dublin where I located a potential new family member.
I am excited now to learn more about transcribing and contributing toward the needs of CROWD projects!
~Deborah (Deb) Hathorn
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Lauren AlgeeAug 9, 2019 6:17 PM (in response to Deborah Hathorn)
1 person found this helpfulWelcome, Deb! We've heard from many folks who have come to By the People through genealogy. It's such a great way to hone your research and paleography skills while connecting to broader history through your own. We're glad you're here!
I'm not sure we can measure up to Dublin, but the Library of Congress is also a fantastic place to visit. Perhaps a trip is in your future!
As you dig in, I hope you'll ask questions and share stories here. By the People volunteers are a friendly and helpful bunch.
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Leah Kolt Aug 10, 2019 9:01 PM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)1 person found this helpfulHello. When I saw a League of Women Voters post on Facebook about the LOC transcription opportunities for the Suffragists, I was intrigued. With so many documents needing transcription and the current generation of students not even learning cursive, I felt a sense of urgency. A professional writer with corporate and university experience, I have also worked in the public involvement arena as a federal contractor for the Department of Energy. Now retired, I am a docent emerita at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and a volunteer for my local library, where I have taught English as a Second Language and currently work in the vintage and “gently used” bookstore. A few years ago, NARA unearthed a box of what turned out to be Reagan’s lifelong collection of notecards with quotes, jokes, stories and other information he sprinkled in his speeches and writing. No one had known previously of its existence. I was too late to be involved in that project, but who knows what treasures we will uncover through the LOC transcription projects!
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Terri Pelna Aug 13, 2019 12:12 PM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)2 people found this helpfulHello everyone! My name is Terri from DE. I just have a general interest in history. I've worked as a medical transcriptionist in the past so transcribing from written documents is slightly different for me since I would normally transcribe from dictated charts; however, the review process is the same. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I TRY to let super minor errors go in the interest of time (absence of line breaks EEEEK) just so that the document doesn't have to be re-reviewed after I make my changes....but it's hard!!!!
I think it would be nice to differentiate between documents needing a first review and those that were previously reviewed.
I do tend to "skip around". I loved the left-handed penmanship contest! The stories were fascinating. I'm also enjoying transcribing Carrie Chapman Catt correspondence and Anna Dickinson's legal documents. I also like to google addresses in the correspondence just to see where these people lived and if the buildings are still standing, etc. Weird? I think not!
Thanks for letting me join the community!
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Henry Rosenberg Aug 13, 2019 3:44 PM (in response to Terri Pelna)1 person found this helpfulHi Terri- I know where you are coming from. I am a perfectionist too. The only time I worry about line breaks is in the handwritten transcriptions. That way it is easier for others to follow. It drives me nuts on typewritten ones when line breaks are not followed because it is hard to review and more time consuming.
Many times I Google addresses I am unsure of to see if the address exists. Then I know I am transcribing the right street name, for example. I try to let minor errors go but frankly my feeling is if it takes a little longer, so what? This may be the only chance we have to get these documents digitized and what we are doing is for the benefit of future historians.
However, I am also conscious of getting things done. I wish we could at some point approve our own work. My frustration is that many people start to transcribe and then give up. It may say we have 800 people working on them but it may actually be much fewer people. Much of the work I have done has not been reviewed or completed and it has languished for 6 months or more.
Regardless, welcome to LOC Crowdsourcing. It is a great effort. I have been working in Mary Church Terrell, have learned a lot and truly enjoy it.
Best wishes,
Henry
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Lauren King Aug 13, 2019 8:17 PM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)1 person found this helpfulHi everyone! My name is Lauren and I live in Atlanta, GA. I'm here thanks to a tweet by Mental Floss stating that help was needed to transcribe thousands of pages of suffragist documents. I've always been into history, and my grandfather was a genealogist. But, more than anything, I'm obsessed with puzzles of all kinds - jigsaw, crossword, etc., and I'm far too detailed for my own good. Professionally, I'm a quality assurance auditor, which means I audit the work of all the other auditors in my department.
I enjoy both transcribing and reviewing, and these documents provide a certain insight into history not found elsewhere. I'm also happy that I can contribute to the greater good without leaving my house
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Chloe Ricciardelli Aug 14, 2019 3:05 PM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)1 person found this helpfulHi! My name is Chloe and I'm a college student from Wisconsin. I found out about this when a former coworker of mine shared a story about it on Facebook. While I'm not going to school for history, I have a passion for history and currently work at a living history museum as a historical interpreter. I visited the LOC back in 2017 and loved it, and I'm happy I can help out, even in a small way.
So far, I've been transcribing and reviewing whenever I can (I'm hoping to work on this a lot before I go back to school!), and I've mainly been focusing on Mary Church Terrell's papers. It is fascinating what I have been learning from reading and transcribing her papers. I'm glad I can help with this project!
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Linda Edwards Sep 23, 2019 5:36 PM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)1 person found this helpfulHi Victoria - My name is Linda Edwards and my library work history includes 10 years at the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Research Library at The Alamo in San Antonio, TX and two years as a senior genealogist of the Daughters of the American Revolution on Washington, D.C. Needless to say that when I saw this opportunity to volunteer, I jumped on the chance.
I do have a technical question on which I have not found an answer. I am working on the Alan Lomax collection and have no idea how to handle the correct transcription of the advertisements and comics that I am finding in the newspaper clippings.
Any guidance will be appreciated.
Many thanks,
Linda Edwards
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Lauren AlgeeSep 24, 2019 4:52 PM (in response to Linda Edwards)
2 people found this helpfulHi Linda,
We're so glad you've joined us in this endeavor! I formerly worked at the Dolph Briscoe Center in Austin, so Texas history holds a special place in my heart
Can you provide any example links to the advertisements and comics you reference? Our instructions state "Don't describe visual elements or add editorial notes in the transcription box. If you would like to describe images, watermarks, stamps, or any other non-text features, use the tagging function. Register for an account to add tags!" It sounds like that could apply to the pages in question, but I'll be able to advise more helpfully to a specific example!
Best,
Lauren (another By the People Community Manager)
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Linda Edwards Sep 28, 2019 5:24 PM (in response to Lauren Algee)Hi Lauren,
Thanks for the guidance - In the Lomax Collection, there is a notebook that is filled with newspaper clippings:
Based on your comments, there is no need to try and transcribe the ads and comic strips.
Again, thanks so much for the help!
Linda Edwards
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
Sierra Bamiro Oct 22, 2019 6:55 PM (in response to Victoria Van Hyning)Hello! I am Sierra Bamiro and I heard about crowd while looking up volunteer opportunities on the LOC website. I took some classes in Library & Information Sciences, which gave me the opportunity to visit the LOC multiple times. I've also worked as an assistant at my university's history department and became interested in history. I look forward to helping the LOC and learning new historical facts!
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Re: Introduce yourself and meet the crowd.loc.gov community.
LOC Manuscript DivisionOct 23, 2019 9:53 AM (in response to Sierra Bamiro)
Welcome, Sierra! We hope you will ask any questions you may have and share interesting finds here on History Hub! Thank you for volunteering!
Loretta
Reference Staff
Manuscript Division
Library of Congress
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