Volunteer transcriber - Smithsonian Institute.

I recently volunteered as a transcriber on a project with the Smithsonian Institute. I came across the Smithsonian Digital Volunteers: Transcription Centre on Twitter and was interested immediately. The name of the project that initially caught my eye was 'Letters from Paris: American Artists in Paris, 1860-1930'. Find out more about the project here.

Screenshot of the Smithsonian Transcription Center interface. Image source.

Since I started volunteering on the 'Letters from Paris' project, I have worked on several other projects with the center. The transcription work can be slow (depending on the age of the material and the handwriting that you are trying to decipher), but it is very rewarding when you consider that you are helping to bring to life all of this valuable material for the benefit of everyone.

Why do it? Well, as well as helping others, I feel that I can get something from it for myself. We are always learning and you never know what nuggets of information you will come across, or what connections you can make when you start transcribing a letter or a note in one of these projects. 

I also feel that I can use the experience and knowledge that I have built up through my research to help others. For example, having lived in France, studied the French language and knowing the geography of the country (and of Paris more specifically), I was able to use these skills to their full advantage on the 'Letters from Paris' project.

Many libraries and archives around the world run programmes like the one that I volunteered for at the Smithsonian Institute and volunteer transcribers are always needed. Here are just some examples:

• (Denmark) National Archives, Volunteer transcriber

• (Canada) Royal BC Museum Archives, Transcribe

• (US) Library of Congress, By the People

• (US) National Archives, Citizen Archivist

• (US) Smithsonian Transcription Center, Smithsonian Digital Volunteers

• (US) Stanford University Archives, From the Page

• (US) University of Iowa Libraries, DIY History

• (US) University of the Pacific, Gold Rush Life

• (Ireland) Maynooth University, Letters 1916-1923

• (Australia) National Library of Australia, Trove

• (UK) The National Archives, Volunteering 

As if that wasn't enough to get your teeth into, here is a list of other transcription projects from the Bentley University Library and here is another list from the Scottish Council on Archives.