Can You Read This Cursive Handwriting? The National Archives Wants Your Help
National Archives Seeks Volunteers for Transcription
The National Archives is overflowing with historical documents written in cursive, some of which are over 200 years old. For many Americans who never learned cursive in school, these texts pose a challenge to read and comprehend.
Citizen Archivist Program
To tackle this issue, the National Archives has launched the Citizen Archivist program, seeking volunteers to transcribe and organize its handwritten records. The initiative aims to “unlock history” by enhancing the accessibility of digital documents, as described on the project’s website.
Each year, the National Archives digitizes tens of millions of records. While technology like artificial intelligence and optical character recognition helps extract text, these methods often fall short in accuracy.
The Role of Volunteers
Human volunteers bridge this gap by transcribing digital pages, making it easier for scholars, genealogists, and history enthusiasts to access historical documents. Getting involved is straightforward: sign up online—the program is open to anyone with internet access.
“There’s no application,” says Suzanne Isaacs, a community manager with the National Archives. “You just pick a record that hasn’t been done and read the instructions. It’s easy to do for a half hour a day or a week.”
Besides transcription, volunteers can engage in “tagging” already transcribed documents to improve their searchability. Over 5,000 volunteers have joined the program, tackling “missions” that require transcription and tagging, such as Revolutionary War pension files and employee contracts from 1866 to 1870.
The Revolutionary War mission, initiated in June 2023 in collaboration with the National Park Service, involves files related to more than 80,000 veterans and their widows. Joanne Blacoe from the NPS highlights the mission’s rich content, stating, “The pensions reveal the stunning—frequently heartbreaking and sometimes funny—complexity, nuance, and previously unknown details about the American Revolution.”
Impactful Engagements
Volunteers determine their level of commitment—some, like Pennsylvania retiree Alex Smith, have dedicated years to the cause. Over nine years, Smith transcribed over 100,000 documents. He notes the opportunity to connect with history through surprising and emotional documents.
Cursive Education Returns
The debate continues over whether schools should focus on penmanship or keyboard skills. Despite the digital age, cursive is making a resurgence, with over 20 states mandating its instruction. In states like California and Kentucky, laws now require cursive teaching, preserving its legacy as a valuable skill.