Get Involved
We're looking for volunteers to help us transcribe this fascinating Civil War & Reconstruction-era document collection. 19th century Americans wrote to their governors almost like we use social media today – they wrote about everything from the monumental to the mundane, and, in the process, help us see how Mississippians of all backgrounds experienced one of the most revolutionary eras in American history.
If you’re interested in helping us, you only need two skills: the ability to read cursive and to be detail oriented enough to transcribe as the docs as accurately as possible. You don’t even need to make a major commitment. But if you’re like many of us, be warned – you might get hooked on this fascinating work that lets you “hear” from Mississippians as they experienced secession, war, emancipation, and more. The online docs are constantly changing – as one if finished, it shifts to a private collection that allows our team to review it for accuracy and add subject tagging. But don’t worry – with a 20,000 document collection, there’s plenty to transcribe!
To get started:
- You may want to read about the project to understand the fundamentals and goals of our project.
- Then please watch this short transcription training video and download our Transcription Protocols (below), a printed guide for transcriptions and examples of what you may encounter.
- Then you just need to create a free user ID at From the Page.
- Finally, go back to our home at From the Page, pick a document that hasn’t been transcribed, and go for it!
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at cwrgmproject@gmail.com