You Can Help the Smithsonian Rewrite Some of Sally Ride’s Notebooks
The National Air and Space Museum currently houses over 38,640 pages of material covering Sally Ride’s career as a physicist, astronaut, and educator. There is only one big problem with the huge collection: most of it is handwritten or typed and not searchable.
The museum estimates that the entire contents are about 23 cubic feet; however, finding and accessing them can be difficult.
The museum has scanned all documents, but is now asking for help in making this scanned archive more accessible to others .
If you would like to participate, you can sign up for assistance through the Smithsonian Institution’s Transcription Center. The digital hub was launched in 2013 and has since been used for a number of transcription projects.
Currently, you can transcribe shuttle Ryde training records that took place between 1979 and 1981, as well as some of the various NASA commissions she served on.
Many of the pages are typewriter pages, so they are easy to read. You just have to take the time to type their content again.
Subscribing to the transcription service is free and only requires creating a username and email address.
In addition to Ryde’s notes, which are nearing completion, there are also a number of other projects the museum is seeking volunteers on, including the transcript of a World War I diary. Here you can view all available projects .
If you’re looking for a way to while away the time while at home, this can be a fun activity that takes minutes (or hours) and can help people get better access to historical material for years to come.