Archival Collections

Many institutions create archives to store their records. State entities do this to store information about their employees and to document actions undertaken on behalf of the state. Private entities do this to record or memorialize their work (or to document a cause they care about). Most archives are stored on different websites.

Library of Congress

The library of congress collects records related to the United States. Some of these records have been digitized and some records are only available if you visit the archive in-person. 

• Library of Congress Catalog
• Library of Congress Digital Archive

Archival Collections on a Global Scale

While there are many different archival websites, if you want to search for a specific type of content you have two main options:

1. Use prior knowledge of institutions to search a specific archive's collection for contents related to your research area.
2. Test out some Google searches on your topic with the words "archive," "digital archive," "digital collection" included.
3. Search for collections related to your research area using ArchiveGrid.

Library of Congress Transcription Project

Contribute to the Library of Congress’s By the People project by transcribing 2 pieces of text and then reviewing 2 pieces of text. Plan to spend about 1 hour per transcription/review.

Goal:

Gain familiarity with reading primary source text, creating image metadata, and participating in archival peer review.

Directions:

1. Go to the Library of Congress By the People registration page and create an account. 
   1. The account keeps track of your transcriptions, gives you a letter of service, and allows you to review other transcriptions.
2. Navigate to the By the People Welcome Guide for instructions on transcribing and reviewing sources.
3. Select a campaign to transcribe. Note some campaigns contain non-English text, select only those campaigns whose language you can read.
   1. Once you select a campaign, filter the pages to “Not Started” and click through the images on the page until you reach an image with a “Transcribe” button at the top of the image.
   2. Select an image to transcribe. Please know you can select an image that is "easier" to transcribe (not just the hard ones).
   3. Follow the directions provided by the Library of Congress, saving your progress as you go.
   4. Click “Submit for Review” once you have completed transcribing a page.
   5. Navigate to 1 other page and transcribe it.
4. Once you complete your transcriptions “Review” 2 pages by navigating to a campaign, filtering to “Needs Review” and selecting two pages for review.
5. Once you complete your transcriptions and review click on your account profile and then download your Service Letter. This letter will document which projects you worked on.

Reflection:

In your next library class session, be prepared to turn in your service letter and discuss:

• How will your work transcribing these sources help future researchers?
• Was it difficult to transcribe what you read (as opposed to improving spelling, etc.)?
• Which type of information would you prefer to use: the original image or a transcribed image?
• Why is it important to have the transcriptions reviewed by another person?
• How is the review process for transcribing similar or different to the academic peer review process?