Browse Projects
What is Deaf Folklore?; Deaf Theater: Kaleidoscope JUN 27 1981
The 1981 Smithsonian Folklife Festival celebrated the skills and traditions of a cultural minority who, despite their large numbers, frequently pass unnoticed: deaf and hard of hearing Americans. In recognition of the International Year of Disabled Persons, deaf participants performed "signlore," told stories emerging from Deaf culture (often with a capital D), and discussed life and experiences growing up deaf. They taught workshops on American Sign Language, displayed homemade devices to substitute for alarm clocks and doorbells, and demonstrated standardized technology such as a TTY, a machine that allows deaf people to make phone calls. Deaf visitors were invited to share jokes, riddles, stories, or puns on videotape with Smithsonian researchers. These recordings were only recently preserved and previously were inaccessible due to their advanced age and format obsolescence. Transcription of their content will provide access- for the first time - to those hard of hearing, and increase our understanding of the history of accessibility in the United States. Please view the instructions for transcribing audio collections before beginning. If you can identify the speakers, please do so using the format {SPEAKER NAME= "____" } if you cannot identify the speakers, please simply indicate when a different individual is speaking by inserting the "Speaker 1," "Speaker 2," etc. tags. For more information about the programs in these recordings, please look at the audio log sheets describing the content and speakers at each presentation.
Delegate Magazine 1981
Founded by Pittsburgh Courier journalist C. Melvin Patrick, each yearly-issue of Delegate contains hundreds of photographs providing coverage of African American professional and fraternal organizations, special events, award recognitions, individuals of note, and newsworthy situations. The magazine was a virtual year in review of African American life in the United States during the 1960s and 1980s. Published by MelPat Associates, Delegate magazines were distributed free of charge by African American organizations at their conferences and meetings. Help us transcribe this issue to make the names, places, and events discoverable to all.
District of Columbia Field Offices, Asst. Quartermaster, Letters Received, Entered in Vols. 1 & 2, Nov. 1866–Dec. 1867, Part 4
The Bureau of Refugees, Freemen, and Abandoned Lands, often referred to as the Freedmen’s Bureau, was established on March 3, 1865. The duties of the Freedmen’s Bureau included supervision of all affairs relating to refugees, freedmen, and the custody of abandoned lands and property. These documents come from the Records of the Field Offices for the District of Columbia, Series 2.1: Offices of Staff Officers: Assistant Quartermaster and Disbursing Officer. Please help us transcribe these records to learn more about the experiences of formerly enslaved men and women in the Washington, D.C. area during the Reconstruction Era.
Delegate Magazine 1980
Founded by Pittsburgh Courier journalist C. Melvin Patrick, each yearly-issue of Delegate contains hundreds of photographs providing coverage of African American professional and fraternal organizations, special events, award recognitions, individuals of note, and newsworthy situations. The magazine was a virtual year in review of African American life in the United States during the 1960s and 1980s. Published by MelPat Associates, Delegate magazines were distributed free of charge by African American organizations at their conferences and meetings. Help us transcribe this issue to make the names, places, and events discoverable to all.
District of Columbia Field Offices, Asst. Quartermaster, Letters Received, Entered in Vols. 1 & 2, Nov. 1866–Dec. 1867, Part 5
The Bureau of Refugees, Freemen, and Abandoned Lands, often referred to as the Freedmen’s Bureau, was established on March 3, 1865. The duties of the Freedmen’s Bureau included supervision of all affairs relating to refugees, freedmen, and the custody of abandoned lands and property. These documents come from the Records of the Field Offices for the District of Columbia, Series 2.1: Offices of Staff Officers: Assistant Quartermaster and Disbursing Officer. Please help us transcribe these records to learn more about the experiences of formerly enslaved men and women in the Washington, D.C. area during the Reconstruction Era.
Project PHaEDRA - Annie Jump Cannon 31
At Harvard College Observatory (now the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), women computers studied glass plate photographs of the night sky. Here they catalogued stars, identifying variables, interpreting stellar spectra, counting galaxies, and measuring the vast distances in space. Several of them made game-changing discoveries in astronomy and astrophysics. In these books, follow the work of Annie Jump Cannon, who in 1901 devised a robust and elegant stellar classification scheme that astronomers still use today. Interested in historical women? Love astronomy? Help us transcribe the work of the Harvard Observatory's women computers and see which stars shine the brightest. PLEASE NOTE: Please follow these special instructions when transcribing these notebooks.
Proceedings of the Board of Regents Meeting held on September 16, 1991
The Smithsonian was a-changin’ by the September 1991 Board of Regents meeting. Planning for the National Museum of the American Indian was well underway, leaders were working to attain funding from Congress for the National Air and Space Museum extension, now the Udvar-Hazy Center, and construction was just about to begin on the National Postal Museum. And with all that change, leadership decided it was time to review the Smithsonian’s overall organization and functions—beginning at the top with the position of Secretary. The goal of the review was to find an effective balance between the central administration and the autonomy of the individual units. Assist a group of volunpeers in transcribing this Board of Regents report, which demonstrates just how transformative this period was in Smithsonian history.
Helen C. Rountree Lecture to Anthropological Society of Washington, 1988 October 18-19, Side 2, Helen C. Rountree Papers
This is part one of a lecture given to the Anthropological Society of Washington by Helen Rountree, who was a professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Rountree studied the history of the Virginia Tribes from the 17th century to the 21st century and is considered a leading expert on Pocahontas. Please be aware that this audio recording is a bit difficult to hear given the poor audio quality. Do the best you can, and reach out anytime for help! Please view the instructions for transcribing audio collections before beginning.
District of Columbia Field Offices, Asst. Quartermaster, Letters Received, Entered in Vols. 1 & 2, Nov. 1866–Dec. 1867, Part 6
The Bureau of Refugees, Freemen, and Abandoned Lands, often referred to as the Freedmen’s Bureau, was established on March 3, 1865. The duties of the Freedmen’s Bureau included supervision of all affairs relating to refugees, freedmen, and the custody of abandoned lands and property. These documents come from the Records of the Field Offices for the District of Columbia, Series 2.1: Offices of Staff Officers: Assistant Quartermaster and Disbursing Officer. Please help us transcribe these records to learn more about the experiences of formerly enslaved men and women in the Washington, D.C. area during the Reconstruction Era.
Proceedings of the Board of Regents Meeting held on May 6, 1991
As the Smithsonian entered the last decade of the twentieth century, the spring meeting of the Smithsonian Board of Regents covered a wide variety of topics. A new type of telescope developed by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory needed a permanent location, the environmental impact of the Smithsonian's annual Festival of American Folklife to the National Mall was under review, and a proposal had been made to adjust the status of a group called Friends of Music at the Smithsonian. Just a few of the topics brought to the Board of Regents by Secretary Adams on May 6, 1991. Please join other volunteers and help us transcribe these meeting minutes. Together we can make the full text of this document more accessible to researchers and the public.
