Browse Projects
North Carolina Assistant Commissioner, Reports on Freedmen Available for Work, July 1867–Dec. 1868, Part 1
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 Assistant Commissioner for the State of North Carolina, Series 22: Reports on Freedmen Available for Work. Please help us transcribe these records to learn more about the experiences of formerly enslaved men and women in North Carolina during the Reconstruction Era. Have questions about how to transcribe tables in these documents? View special directions here.
North Carolina Assistant Commissioner, Other Records, Quartermaster Property Returns, Nov.–Dec. 1868
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 Assistant Commissioner for the State of North Carolina, Series 23: Other Records. Please help us transcribe these records to learn more about the experiences of formerly enslaved men and women in North Carolina during the Reconstruction Era. Have questions about how to transcribe tables in these documents? View special directions here.
North Carolina Assistant Commissioner, Records Relating to Lands and Property, Deed and Leases, 1866-1870
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 Assistant Commissioner for the State of North Carolina, Series 20: Records Relating to Lands and Property. Please help us transcribe these records to learn more about the experiences of formerly enslaved men and women in North Carolina during the Reconstruction Era. Have questions about how to transcribe tables in these documents? View special directions here.
National Numismatic Collection - Chinese Bank Notes, Set 1
Ready for a new challenge volunpeers? Help us transcribe Chinese Bank Notes from the Smithsonian's National Numismatic Collection (NNC). Established in the mid-19th century, several of the earliest additions to the NNC were artifacts from Japan, Korea, and China, including coins and medals gifted to President Ulysses S. Grant from Japanese Emperor Meiji (received in 1881) and the 2,025 East Asian coins, amulets, and notes from George Bunker Glover’s private collection (received in 1897). These donations were the foundation of the NNC’s East Asian holdings, which continues to grow with new acquisitions, such as the Howard F. Bowker collection in 2017. The NNC is now working to digitize 6,000 Chinese notes and paper transactional objects that range from the Ming Dynasty to the present day. One of the main challenges to the digitization process is transcription, transliteration and translation of several Asian alphabets. Sometimes this can be done quickly, but often the process is too lengthy for NNC team members to complete while moving the project forward efficiently. In order to continue to share these objects rapidly, we need your help! The transcription of these bank notes will help NNC staff figure out how best to make these objects available and more easily searchable online. Please visit the special instructions for this project before beginning transcription.
Friedrich "Fritz" Rumpf Notebooks - Set 2
Friedrich Karl Georg Rumpf (1888-1949) German illustrator and ethnographer, and son of German artist Fritz Rumpf. The younger Fritz Rumpf was living in Japan at the outbreak of war and likely composed parts of at least one of the following notebooks while living as a prisoner of war. PLEASE NOTE: The notebooks will be a special challenge as they contain multiple notes in German and Japanese, and drawings in pencil, ink and wash made during his travels and research in Japan.
Benjamin O. Davis Jr. Collection - Individual Flight Record - Davis, Benjamin O. 1206-A. (2)
Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr. was born in Washington, DC on December 18, 1912. He attended Western Reserve University and the University of Chicago before gaining admission to the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY. He graduated in the Class of 1936 and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Infantry. After serving in the infantry for several years Davis was posted to the newly-established Tuskegee Army Air Field, AL for pilot training in 1942. He commanded the 99th Fighter Squadron, the first unit of “Tuskegee Airmen.” Two units of Tuskegee Airmen saw combat during World War II: the 99th Fighter Squadron and the 332d Fighter Group. Davis, promoted to Colonel in 1944, commanded both of these units in turn, leading the 99th and 332d in combat in Europe and earning the Air Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross, Legion of Merit, and Silver Star for his own actions and a Distinguished Unit Citation for the 332d Fighter Group. Davis was responsible for the success of the 477th, as he quickly brought the unit up to deployment requirements, in spite of racial tensions that had previously left the unit lacking training. The performance of the units under Davis' command had laid to rest questions regarding the abilities of the "negro race" and in 1948 the Air Force determined that the efficient use of its manpower required the integration of its units. As a result the Air Force rapidly complied with President Truman's order for the integration of the United States military. The integration procedure, however, resulted in the deactivation of Davis' command as its personnel were dispersed among the rest of the Air Force; Davis himself was assigned to attend classes at the Air War College at Maxwell AFB, AL. After completing the course of study at the Air War College, Davis was posted to a variety of command and staff positions both within the United States and abroad. Davis was promoted to Brigadier General in October 1954, after ten years as a Colonel. He was promoted to Major General in June 1959 and to Lieutenant General in April 1965. Despite persistent rumors of his impending promotion to full General, no such promotion was pending by the time of his retirement on January 31, 1970. On December 9, 1998, Davis was promoted to General on the Retired List, receiving his fourth star from President William Clinton in a ceremony held in the Presidential Hall of the Old Executive Office Building in Washington, DC. The promotion came only after the Tuskegee Airmen approached Senator John McCain of Arizona, who agreed that the promotion was warranted by Davis' service.
Where in the World Is? Set 11a
Come help us improve our digital records for the United States National Herbarium (US)! Please join us in our effort to transcribe the locality information for our difficult to decipher US Specimens. The records in this project are special cases in which the locality information requires some detective work. We'd like to ask for your help in digging a little deeper to find the Country and Territory/State/Province for each of these specimens sheets labels; see special instructions and examples here . Please contact Sylvia Orli, Department of Botany, for any questions or comments about the transcriptions. Note: Do not erase notes from other volunteers or staff; rather, leave existing comments and add your own.
Cleofé Calderón - Brasil 1978
Cleofé Calderón’s organizational skills are shining again in this field book from her trip to Brazil in 1978. Like in many of her notes, she organizes the specimens she collected by name and number, and even often the dates she collected them. One thousand of these collections, mostly bamboos, made their ways to the U.S. National Herbarium during her career. One of Calderón’s most significant discoveries was actually the rediscovery of the Anomochloa, a tropical forest grass, in 1976. Overall, her collections have been such an important contribution to grass systematics not only for the quality of specimens she collected, but also for her close attention to detail. Aid us in transcribing Calderón 's work to make the high quality of her research well known to a wider audience. Fair warning, Calderón's handwriting can be a little difficult to read, but you can revisit past transcription projects to examine how volunpeers have tackled her work.
Cleofé Calderón - Brasil 1979, 0
Unfortunately, it is sometimes hard to make ends "meat" doing the research you love. Fortunately, Cleofé Calderón had professional training as a chef and was a skilled cook. After an extended trip to Brazil in 1979, Calderón moved to another office in the U.S. National Herbarium and turned to catering for a short period of time in order to support herself. Apparently, her skills were well known throughout the herbarium, as attendance spiked at the Friday afternoon tea times when it was Calderón’s turn to bring refreshments. This transcription project is just one field book of notes from her long 1979 trip to Brazil. Help the Archives make Calderón’s important research accessible to a wider audience by transcribing this project. Though Calderón’s handwriting can be challenging to read, you can view how volunpeers have transcribed her previous projects.
James Brown Guitar
This Epiphone guitar owned by James Brown is signed on all four sides and features messages of praise, thanks, and birthday wishes by notable people including Casey Kasem and Ozzy Osbourne. Transcription of the messages and signatures on Brown’s guitar will help Museum staff update their records with a list of all of the artists that signed the guitar and will allow interested researchers to more easily locate information about this iconic artist. We hope you enjoy transcribing this object and we can’t wait to find out who else left messages for James Brown! Please indicate basic location information- ex. [front, top], [right side, bottom], etc. Don’t worry if messages are duplicated in the photos. Transcribe what you will see and we will clean it up on our end! Example: Front, Top: Howie H More than music to the man (Mr. James Brown) Happy B and many more!
