Persevering Through the Pandemic :
Crowdsourced Transcribing Project Provides Relevance
By Meg L . Winslow Curator of Historical Collections & Archives
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W hen the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in mid-March , Mount Auburn ’ s Historical Collections staff and volunteers found themselves working remotely from home and without access to the Cemetery ’ s physical collections . Curatorial Consultant Thom Burns had a solution : Why not start an online transcription project ? “ I had heard about transcribing software as early as 2009 when I was an intern at the Archives for American Art ,” Burns explains , “ I ’ ve also been transcribing for a digitization project at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astro Physics .”
At first , the thought of typing out words copied from the pages of old letters seemed time-consuming and even tedious . Transcription projects at Stanford University , the Smithsonian Transcription Center , and the Library of Congress convinced us that this could be a meaningful way to engage volunteers and the broader Mount Auburn community . In April 2020 , we launched FromThePage . com , an innovative crowd-sourcing platform that allows anyone with internet access to view a digital image and type its transcription . In just five months , we have uploaded 8,862 digital images and transcribed 2,934 pages including the first two volumes of trustee meeting minutes ( 1835-1858 ).
Mount Auburn is fortunate to have a dedicated community of volunteers . As our core group of volunteer transcribers , they have been eager to engage with the Cemetery and make a difference . “ This project is just perfect for me ,” says volunteer Lisa Carper , “ I love everything about it — the documents , the history , and the language .” Carper , along with volunteers Joshua Segal and Kathleen Fox , are transcribing a substantial five to ten pages a day . “ To escape into the 19th century and be in the mindset of those who wrote these documents is a wonderful journey into the past ,” explains volunteer Kathleen Fox . “ One of the things I like best is being part of this team - even though we ’ re physically apart , this work is keeping us close .”
We invite everyone to join the project at www . fromthepage . com / mountauburncemetery . Transcribers will be surprised to learn that uploaded pages are much more than old , musty records of the dead . They include founding acts , trustee minutes , commissions for works of art and stained glass , officer ’ s letters , and superintendent ’ s reports that show how