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Black and white image of Roosevelt, leaning and pointing to his left.

Transcribe Theodore Roosevelt’s Papers Online at the Library of Congress

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October 27th marks Theodore Roosevelt’s 166th birthday and we’re hoping you can help us celebrate the occasion!

Yesterday, the By the People crowdsourced transcription program released over 20,000 new pages of TR’s papers into crowd.loc.gov. We’re calling on all #TedHeads (our favorite TR fans) to join us in transcribing these materials to make the Library’s digital collections more accessible and discoverable for all. Click the links below to go directly to these two brand new transcription projects now available for volunteer transcription:

14. Nov. 18, 1912-Apr. 18, 1913: Hired Pen

15. Apr. 19, 1913-May 13, 1914: The River of Doubt

black and white photograph of Roosevelt with his hand in his pocket and wearing a hat.
Join the “Man in the Arena” and transcribe brand new materials from the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Papers collection. Link to image source on loc.gov.

All you need to get started is a keyboard, a browser, and an interest in history! Everyone is welcome to contribute to and you do not need to register to transcribe. However, if you’d like to create an account with the program, you unlock additional features not otherwise available. These include a downloadable service letter, a way to track your past contributions, and the ability to review the transcriptions of other volunteers. You can learn more about how By the People works in other blog posts here on the Signal – check out this dedicated tag to view them. 

As you’re exploring crowd.loc.gov, you might notice two different transcription campaigns dedicated to America’s 26th president, only one of which is active. “My great mass of papers”: Correspondence of Theodore Roosevelt was launched in 2020 as a Library staff telework project, but has since been opened to the public and completed earlier this month (you can read more about that here). Rough Rider to Bull Moose: Letters to Theodore Roosevelt was also launched in 2020 and has grown to consist of 15 distinct projects for everyone to contribute to – including the two new projects launched yesterday!  

So far, over 6,000 registered (and an untold number of anonymous) By the People contributors have transcribed more than 250,000 pages of Roosevelt’s papers. And some of these transcriptions are already powering enhanced search, discovery, and access of TR’s papers on loc.gov: click here to see transcriptions side-by-side with their original Library collections 

This most recent batch of transcribable materials contains many gems and we hope you’ll share some of your finds with us along the way. Below are a few examples of what you might encounter from this new addition: 

Black and white scan of handwritten letter to Roosevelt now available for transcription.
Harold had “some things to tell you about” in this letter to the failed presidential candidate in 1912. Transcribe this letter on crowd.loc.gov.
Black and white news clipping available for transcription on crowd.loc.gov.
In addition to handwritten letters, you’ll also come across news clippings, telegrams, and envelopes also in need of transcription. And beware of “foul play in the mountains” if you ever visit Bad Gastein in Austria! Transcribe this clipping on crowd.loc.gov.

If you’re wondering what kind of impact crowdsourced transcription has on discovery and access here at the Library, you’ll want to check out this blog post from my fellow Community Manager, Abby Shelton: Do volunteer transcriptions improve search and discovery in loc.gov? And if you’re curious about how the team picks collections for transcription and what happens to the data, you’ll want to read this blog post from By the People’s Senior Community Manager, Lauren Algee: The crowdsourced transcription lifecycle – from conception to retirement.

We’re anticipating releasing the entirety of the correspondence series in the Roosevelt collection for crowdsourced transcription over time – so stay tuned for more TR ‘drops’ in the future! We’ll see you in the arena.

Comments

  1. TR made a number of sound recordings in the 1910s that are available online at LOC. Using an AI program I was able to animate a photo of TR (head and shoulders) and then synchronize the record to the match his mouth movements. This experiment was successful in the sense that it resembled a sound motion picture of TR speaking. But what didn’t work was more profound. TR spoke in a high-pitched voice that I found difficult to listen to. I have a “fix” that might improve the vocal quality – Many 78 rpm records from that era were run off too fast, basically recorded at 75 rpm but processed at 78, thus raising the speaker’s voice pitch to a higher level. I will see if this is the real problem.

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