Transcribe

One of the basic difficulties of researching the history of everyday life is that a large amount of material is essentially inaccessible because individual documents have not been cataloged and their contents are not searchable. By helping to transcribe letters and prepare them for translation, you are making it possible for historians and other members of the public to learn more about the experience of individuals as they wrote letters meant to maintain connections across the ocean and across time.

In transcribing and translating these materials, you may encounter words, phrasing, and attitudes that you find offensive or culturally insensitive. Our practice is to present the material in its original format in order to facilitate its use in research. The documents and their corresponding transcriptions reflect the culture and context in which they were created and not the views of project staff, other transcribers, the German Historical Institute, partner organizations or individuals that have contributed material, or our funders.

Begin the process of becoming a transcriber by visiting this link!