5 Replies Latest reply on Mar 31, 2020 12:40 PM by LOC Manuscript Division

    How to submit transcribed material?

    Woodrow Major Newbie
    Woodrow Major Mar 27, 2020 2:49 PM

      Hello.  I am an amateur researcher of and writer about antebellum American politics.  For my own purposes, I recently digitally transcribed the New York Tribune's printing of Jefferson Davis' speech to the 1859 Mississippi State Democratic Convention.  The trouble is, I found this via a newspaper archive, not the Library of Congress' collection, and while I feel this is worthy material to get into the hands of researchers, it doesn't seem to be the focus of any of the By the People project's current campaigns (since it isn't strictly related to the Civil War).  Having done all of this work, it seems to me a shame for me to use it for a couple of brief citations and then bury it in my hard drive never to be seen again, so I would like to get my results into the Library's archive if that's a possible thing to do.  I have both the scans of the original newspaper and the digital transcription that I have done and would gladly turn over either or both.  Thanks for any help. 

        • Re: How to submit transcribed material?
          LOC Manuscript Division Tracker
          LOC Manuscript Division Expert Mar 31, 2020 12:40 PM (in response to Woodrow Major)

          Hello Woodrow,

          Thank you for your question. As you suggest, this type of material would not be a good fit for the By the People project, which is focused on using crowdsourcing to transcribe original manuscripts held at the Library of Congress. You can read more about this project on the By the People website (About).

           

          The Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress is the custodian of a small collection of Jefferson Davis’s papers (625 items) although his correspondence is found in many of our collections, including the Confederate States of America Records and the papers of Jubal Anderson Early, which are available online.

           

          Please feel free to contact the Manuscript Reading Room directly via Ask a Librarian with any questions about our collections or our collecting policies. Best wishes,

           

          Lewis

           

          Lewis Wyman

          Manuscript Division

          Library of Congress

            • Re: How to submit transcribed material?
              Woodrow Major Newbie
              Woodrow Major Mar 31, 2020 11:48 AM (in response to LOC Manuscript Division)

              The link to Ask a Librarian is broken, but I'll try to find it via the website.  Thanks. 

               

              I have transcribed this, and since I asked this question several other speeches by Stephen Douglas as printed in the New York Times, because I'm working on an essay about the 1860 election and the events that led to splitting the Democratic ticket and giving the election to Abraham Lincoln with less than 40% of the popular vote (the basic thesis being that the Slave Power elected Lincoln when their delegates walked out of the Democratic conventions and refused to back Douglas for what were, from their perspective and goals, spurious reasons).  I know what I'm writing is not of interest to the Library of Congress, but the sources I have dug up may be if these are not already in the collection.