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Become an archivist for the National Archives

February 12, 2025
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Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer

Since it was established in 1934 by President Franklin Roosevelt, the National Archives of the United States, in Washington, D.C. has been collecting documents, photographs, journals, maps and more from as far back as 1775.

According to archives.gov, the Archives holds items such as slave ship manifests, the Emancipation Proclamation, captured German records, Japanese surrender documents from World War II, journals of polar expeditions, photographs of Dust Bowl farmers, Indian treaties making transitory promises and a “richly bound document bearing the bold signature ‘Bonaparte’ – the Louisiana Purchase Treaty that doubled the territory of the young republic.

Billions of documents and millions of photographs and motion picture film, as well as sound recordings and electronica data have been collected through the years to create the incredibly extensive archive of American history.

Collecting the items is just part of what the National Archives does. Restoration, digitization and cataloguing of all items is also integral to keeping all the history alive.

To get help with the items that need catalogued and transcribed, the National Archives created the Citizen Archivist program. 

After creating a free user account for the archives’ website, anyone can help from the comfort of their own home. All they need is a computer and a few special skills.

One skill in particular – the ability to read cursive –is at the top of that list. The majority of the handwritten documents in the collection are in cursive and along with digitizing the original version of the document, the Archives wants transcriptions of all the documents to make them easier to search.

In addition to needing transcriptions, the Archives also ask Citizen Archivists to help with tagging items and adding comments to items in which they are knowledgeable.

Tagging is a way to add descriptive words to a document that makes it pop up during a search. For example, if someone is searching the Archives for the photography of Dorothea Lange, who took photos of the Dust Bowl farmers, the tags for those photographs would include Dorothea Lange, photography, Dust Bowl, farmers, 1920s, etc.

For transcribing, the Archives asks that each document be typed as it is written, including misspellings, abbreviations and words that are capitalized although they don’t need to be in the context of the document.

After setting up a user account and logging in, archivists can click on Citizen Archivists Missions and find a selection of featured missions that need transcriptions, tagging and comments.

There are also “outside the box missions” which feature records that require special work, including knowledge of the court system and heritage of other countries.

Some of the current featured missions include:

• Awards Cards, 1942-1963. Help transcribe index cards for awards that include the Purple Heart, Air Medal Decoration, Commendation Medal and Distinguished Service Cross.

• Revolutionary War Prize Cases, 1780-1787. Transcribe files documenting the hearings of appeals from Colonial courts in cases of ships captured and labeled as prizes. These records are mostly in cursive.

• Correspondence Relating to Public Comments and Inquiries, November 30, 1963-September 24, 1964. Transcribe correspondence, newspaper clippings, telegrams, editorials, magazines, publications, pamphlets, annual reports and other files reflecting public attitudes concerning the work of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, or unofficially the Warren Commission, during its existence.

• U.S. Submarine War Patrol Reports, 1941-1945. Transcribe narrative reports describing the activities of individual submarines. A typical report consists of a daily narrative summary of the location and activities of the submarine, which is usually followed by additional information relating to topics such as meteorology, the physical and mechanical condition of the submarine and any attacks made against enemy ships by the submarine.

• Carded Service Records of Hospital Attendants, Matrons and Nurses, 1861-1865. Transcribe forms filled out in cursive, containing employment information for military nurses and matrons during the Civil War.

For more information on the National Archives and the Citizen Archivist program, visit archives.gov

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