Citizen Archivists

Do you have a couple of hours a month to volunteer from home?! If so then YOU TOO can become a Citizen Archivist! Consider volunteering for the Historical Society of Cheshire County to transcribe letters and diaries to make them accessible to the public.

BENEFITS OF VOLUNTEERING:

1. You’ll be providing public access to the personal narrative of a man or woman who lived years ago.
2. You’ll have a cool new title, Citizen Archivist.
3. You’ll have your name published online beside the transcription you created.
4. You’ll be volunteering for an amazing NH non-profit, The Historical Society of Cheshire County, whose goal is to provide an place for people to make discoveries and connect to local history– which is totally priceless.

Sign Up via Facebook

NH State Archivist Brian Buford with Citizen Archivist

 

HOW IT WORKS USING FACEBOOK:

1. We often post letters and diaries in need of transcribing on our Citizen Archivist Facebook page along with some facts about the author or the time period.
2. If you see a project that interests you, simply indicate your interest in the comments section of the post.
3. We’ll send you a scanned copy of the original letter/diary entry along with some background information about the person and instructions for transcribing.
4. You email it back to us and we’ll send it to Keene State College to publish online.

Sign up via Email

NH State Archivist Brian Buford with Citizen Archivist

 

HOW IT WORKS BY EMAIL:

1. Email the historical society to indicate your interest in transcribing historic documents from home.
2. We’ll send you a welcome packet with training material as well as your 1st scanned copy of an original document.
3. You transcribe it using the rules for transcription we’ve given you and then email it back to us and we’ll send it to Keene State College to post online.

Email Us

 

Here are some projects we’ve completed or need volunteers to assist us with transcriptions!  Let us know which one interests you.