Browse Projects
100% Complete
57 Total pages
9 Contributing members
A brief report on a trip to Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, 1923-1924
How far would you go to study grasses? South American biodiversity held the interest of some United States botanists as early as the turn of the twentieth century. Harvard University and the New York Botanical Garden as well as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) saw fit to send Alfred Spear Hitchcock (1865-1935), USDA systematic agrostologist and Smithsonian custodian of grasses to northern South America to study the grazing industry there in 1923. This brief typescript report includes a descriptions of Hitchcock's time there together with photographs visually documenting the expedition. Please help us transcribe Hitchcock's report and learn his thoughts concerning the grazing industries of three different countries.
100% Complete
49 Total pages
39 Contributing members
A Cinema Apart: African American Film Memorabilia (Larry Richards Collection)
During the segregation era, an independent industry dedicated to the production of “race movies” for African American audiences emerged in response to the exclusion of black artists from Hollywood and to counter the negative, stereotypical representations of African Americans in mainstream movies. The Richards Collection features rare items that document this formative period. Larry Richards began collecting around 1986 after receiving a race film poster (The Bull-Dogger) to exhibit in the 4th annual film festival during Black History Month at the Free Library of Philadelphia. His collection of race film memorabilia spans most genres, including musicals, westerns, and horror. Richards’ collection contains over 700 objects covering a period of time from the early age of cinema up through the 1950s. Help us transcribe these race film materials and learn about some of the popular films in this genre.
Browse projects by National Museum of African American History and Culture
Subprojects
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Movie Poster for Black Gold
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Movie Poster for Dark Manhattan
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Movie Poster for The Flying Ace
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Movie Poster for Murder on Lenox Ave.
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Movie Poster for One Mile From Heaven
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Lobby card for Cabin in the Sky
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Lobby card for Go Down, Death!
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Lobby card for Imitation of Life
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Lobby card for Lem Hawkins' Confession
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Lobby card for Lost Boundaries
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Advertisement for A Prince of His Race
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Movie Poster for Pinky
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Lobby card for The Duke is Tops
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Lobby card for The Duke Is Tops 2
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Lobby card for "Harlem on the Prairie" 1
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Lobby card for Lying Lips
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Lobby Card for Temptation
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Window card for Bargain with Bullets
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Window card for A Daughter of the Congo
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Program for Swing
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Film poster for The Exile
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Film poster for Gang Smashers
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Lobby card for Bargain with Bullets
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Lobby card for Bargain with Bullets 1
100% Complete
500 Total pages
45 Contributing members
A Cornucopia of Alchornea
Alchornea (Euphorbiaceae) has many uses. According to Wikipedia, for centuries the indigenous peoples of the Amazon have used the bark and leaves of iporuru (Alchornea castaneifolia) for many different purposes and prepared it in many different ways. The Alchornea castaneifolia plant commonly is used with other plants during shamanistic training and, sometimes is an ingredient in ayahuasca (a hallucinogenic, multi-herb decoction used by South American shamans).
Please contact Sylvia Orli, Department of Botany, or tweet us at @sylviaorli @TranscribeSI for any questions or comments about the transcriptions.
100% Complete
3 Total pages
5 Contributing members
A Decade of United Action, 1935-1945, National Council of Negro Women Brochure
Imagine launching a campaign to raise $55,000 in 1945, the year that World War II ended. This bold challenge by the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) exemplifies the highly organized activism of the clubwoman movement. In 1935, educator Mary McLeod Bethune founded the NCNW, building on the legacy of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs (NACW), founded in 1896 to combat lynching. Both united local African American women’s clubs across the U.S. Clubwomen supported African American communities in myriad ways: fighting poverty, providing education, offering child care for working mothers, advocating for civil rights, and striving for international peace. A diverse collection of documents from the 1940s to 1960s awaits transcription, such as event programs, flyers, and tickets; an obituary; a meeting agenda in Spanish; and, a leadership handbook. Learn more about NACW programs that honored abolitionist Frederick Douglass and raised funds to preserve his home in Washington, D.C. and NCNW programs on cultural exchanges with British women after World War II. Look for the integral relationship of church and community; churches often hosted clubwoman events. Notice the presence of music and art, verbally and visually. Discover how African American clubwomen carried out their mission of “lifting as we climb,” and find a message written in the stars. Thank you for helping to make these archival documents searchable!
100% Complete
500 Total pages
37 Contributing members
A Feast of Crotons - complete
You may be asking, what is there to do during the holiday season? The answer is obvious. Transcribe Croton records of course! And Botanists at the Smithsonian are grateful as always for your help. Together we will help conserve the plants of the world.
Please contact Sylvia Orli, Department of Botany, or tweet us at @sylviaorli @TranscribeSI for any questions or comments about the transcriptions.
100% Complete
500 Total pages
31 Contributing members
A Luxuriance of Croton! - complete
Join us in transcribing the, yes, you guessed it, Croton, an extensive flowering genus fom the Euphorbiaceae, or Spurge, family. Here's another interesting fact: According to Wikipedia, in the Amazon the red latex from the species Croton lechleri, known as Sangre de Drago (Dragon's blood), is used as a "liquid bandage", as well as for other medicinal purposes, by native peoples.
Please contact Sylvia Orli, Department of Botany, for any questions or comments about the transcriptions and thanks to all of you for your help!
100% Complete
500 Total pages
28 Contributing members
A LUXURIANCE OF CROTON! Set 2 - complete
Join us in transcribing the, yes, you guessed it, Croton, an extensive flowering genus fom the Euphorbiaceae, or Spurge, family. Here's another interesting fact: According to Wikipedia, Cascarilla (Croton eluteria) bark is used to flavour the liqueurs Campari and Vermouth. Please contact Sylvia Orli, Department of Botany, for any questions or comments about the transcriptions and thanks to all of you for your help!
100% Complete
500 Total pages
45 Contributing members
A LUXURIANCE OF CROTON! Set 3 - complete
Join us in transcribing the, yes, you guessed it, Croton, an extensive flowering genus fom the Euphorbiaceae, or Spurge, family. Here's another interesting fact: According to Wikipedia, Croton seeds can be made in to an oil that is used in herbal medicine as a violent purgative. Nowadays, it is considered unsafe and it is no longer listed in the pharmacopeias of many countries. Please contact Sylvia Orli, Department of Botany, for any questions or comments about the transcriptions and thanks to all of you for your help!
100% Complete
500 Total pages
23 Contributing members
A Ponderance of Aporosa
Like many plants in the Euphorbiaceae, Aporosa can be used for medicinal purposes.
Please contact Sylvia Orli, Department of Botany, or tweet us at @sylviaorli @TranscribeSI for any questions or comments about the transcriptions.
100% Complete
1 Total pages
3 Contributing members
A Small Army Rescues a House newspaper article, June 6, 1955
Did you know Frederick Douglass’ chosen birthday of February 14th was once celebrated as a school holiday in Washington, D.C., known as Douglass Day? Students learned about the life of Douglass, heard his speeches and excerpts from his publications, and listened to poems dedicated to the remarkable statesman. The celebration rapidly spread to other parts of the country and to institutions beyond schools. African American churches and women’s social clubs also sponsored Douglass Day events, where social issues were discussed, along with the preservation of Douglass’ home, Cedar Hill, in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, D.C. This year, you can help us celebrate Frederick Douglass and uncover historic efforts to preserve the Frederick Douglass Home by transcribing the correspondence of the Coordination Committee of Anacostia and Vicinity, now preserved in the Anacostia Community Museum’s Dale-Patterson Family Collection.
100% Complete
156 Total pages
105 Contributing members
A vocabulary of the Po-da-wahd-mih language
This manuscript, transcribed around the year 1890 from the original version dating to 1843, is written in a clear cursive hand, although the ink has now considerably faded. The vocabulary contains parallel columns of common English and Potawatomi words, as well as verb conjugations and some phrases. The pages for the first section of the vocabulary (A-Gr) are missing, and the manuscript picks up with English words beginning in “Gu-.” The volume has an old, likely contemporary (but re-backed) mottled paperboard binding with marbled edges.
100% Complete
154 Total pages
23 Contributing members
A. C. L. Carlleyle Letter
A signed autograph letter by A. C. L. Carlleyle (born Archibald Campbell Carlyle; 1831–1897) an English archaeologist to John Henry Rivett-Carnac (1839-1923), dated 1879 April 23 near Chapra, India.
