From the Maine State Archives:
The Maine State Archives and Maine State Library are launching the Digital Maine Transcription Project today, inviting the public to lend a hand in making Maine’s historical documents more accessible.
The transcription project works in conjunction with DigitalMaine, which hosts digitized items from all over the state. The website now gives users the option to type the contents of these historic documents, which will make them text-searchable, allowing researchers to easily find documents that reference a particular subject of interest. Additionally, having a typed version of these documents will make them accessible to those who cannot read cursive and to those with visual impairment, via computer programs that can read typed text aloud.
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Staff members started planning for the project this past summer after learning about the enthusiastic public response to similar initiatives at the National Archives and the Smithsonian.
Currently available for transcription on the Digital Maine site are: Civil War hospital records, slavery and African-American history documents, militia records from the Revolutionary War and War of 1812; correspondence from the library’s Dahlov Ipcar collection (American painter, illustrator, and author), and town records. Archives and Library staff will update the site with new material as transcriptions are completed.
Participants simply create their own login to begin typing documents on the site, and can complete entire documents or parts of documents, depending on how much time they want to commit.
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