Transcribing Anti-Slavery Letters to Help Historians
The Boston Public Library has a collection of letters that were sent to and from anti-slavery activists in the 19th century. The only problem is that they are handwritten, which makes them difficult to read and impossible to find. This is where you come in.
The library is looking for volunteers to help transcribe letters for its Manuscripts Against Slavery project . When you log in, you will see an email with underlined script lines (or, if you are the first to decipher this document, you yourself will underline them). Click and you can either enter what appears on that line of the document, or accept the transcription of the previous volunteer. When multiple people are working on each document, you check each other’s work.
The library writes about the significance of the documents: “Extensive correspondence captures the interaction between the leading abolitionists in the United States and Britain over a fifty-year period, thus creating an archive that comprehensively documents the history of the 19th century anti-slavery movement. in Boston and abroad until the end of the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery. “
According to a library note, some letter writers also discuss the role of women in the controversial abolitionist movement at the time, and some describe resistance from people who did not want to abolish slavery. By helping to decipher the letters, you can help historians and readers make these historical facts more accessible.