I recently became a digital volunteer for some local historical societies and national archives by transcribing historical documents for them.
These societies are especially looking for people who can read cursive, which is a skill not taught in many schools anymore. Still, some are also looking for volunteers to transcribe typed documents so being able to read cursive is not a requirement.
Some documents I transcribed recently include some Revolutionary War pension records for the Massachusetts Historical Society, letters from the Casey Family Papers regarding the construction of the Washington Monument for Historic New England, and the recently released JFK assassination records for the National Archives.
Volunteering is a great way to give back to the community, it looks good on a resume and/or college application, it’s a great way to network and meet new people and it gives you a sense of accomplishment and purpose.
There is also a rising anti-intellectual sentiment in American society today and American students are falling behind in education due to a lack of funding and focus on education so supporting institutions that promote history, education, and learning is a great way to combat that.
If you are not interested in transcribing, you can also volunteer in person at any historical society near you. Pretty much every historical society is in dire need of volunteers so don’t hesitate to ask if your local historical society needs help.
The following is a list of national archives and New England historical societies that are looking for digital volunteers to transcribe documents:
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Digital Volunteer Transcription Project: transcribe.gilderlehrman.org
Historic New England Virtual Volunteer: www.historicnewengland.org
Library of Congress Virtual Volunteer: crowd.loc.gov
Maine Historical Society Revolutionary War Digitization Project: www.mainehistory.org
Massachusetts Historical Society Digital Volunteer: www.masshist.org
Massachusetts State Library Transcription Project Pilot: www.mass.gov
Nantucket Historical Association Transcribe the Collections: nha.org
National Archives Citizen Archives Mission: www.archives.gov
Smithsonian Digital Volunteers: transcription.si.edu
There are also many historical societies across the country that are looking for digital volunteers too. There are too many to list here so if you are interested in volunteering elsewhere in the country, look up a historical society there and see if they are in need of digital volunteers or in-person volunteers.