Crowdsourcing at the Library of Congress: April 5 webinar & new datasets

By the People Bulletin

 

TOMORROW (4/5)! By the People webinar on 1865 petition 

You're invited to a webinar on Wednesday, April 5 from 3-4 EDT to learn more about our most recent transcription campaign for a petition created in 1865 by Black South Carolinians fighting for equal rights. Library colleagues Michelle Krowl, Civil War and Reconstruction specialist, and Ahmed Johnson, African American Genealogy specialist, will explore the historical context of the petition and demonstrate some of the ways to research the petition's signatories using Library resources.  Register now to receive a Zoom link and more information. Join us tomorrow to celebrate this almost-completed transcription campaign and the research we hope it will inspire! 

The petition in the news 

The Library launched the campaign for the 1865 petition at a press event on Wednesday, March 29 where Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden, Manuscript Division Historian Michelle Krowl, and Representative James Clyburn from South Carolina had a chance to speak about the significance of the petition to the past and present. Read more about the event and the context of the petition in a recent article published in The Post and Courier. 

Three new transcription datasets published

Last month, By the People published three new full-text transcription datasets from the Gladstone African American Military collection, Mary Church Terrell papers, and Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz correspondence. These datasets present complete sets of volunteer-created transcriptions as CSV files available for searching, computational analysis, and digital humanities projects. Explore the data for yourself and see what you can do! 

 

Best regards,

Abby & the By the People team