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DIGITAL COLLECTIONSCollaborative online workspaceinvites users to transcribehistoric documentsWould you like to help make Virginia history easier for researchersto find? You can help improve access to historic documentsin the Library of Virginia’s collections by transcribing (or reviewingtranscriptions of) handwritten pages, broadsides, and other items in acollaborative online workspace on the Library of Virginia’s website called“Making History: Transcribe.” Once transcribed, the documents can bemade text-searchable in Digitool or other delivery platforms in order toincrease ease of use.The project is part of Virginia Memory (www.virginiamemory.com/transcribe), the Library’s home for digital collections. Frompeace to wartime, court records to letters home, and conspiracies topolitical statements, there should be something to appeal to everyone.Help us tell the narrative of all Virginians—the famous, infamous,and even anonymous.The first items available for transcribing are documentsfrom the Civil War 150 Legacy Project, broadsides from SpecialCollections, and documents related to Gabriel’s Conspiracy, a failedRichmond-area slave uprising in 1800. Also included are documentsin the African American Narrative Project, which contains recordsrelated to enslaved and free people who lived in Virginia prior tothe end of slavery in 1865. The stories that these documents tellform a narrative of a people that has not been fully told because of thedifficulty of accessing the records. Future transcribing efforts willinclude collections related to Library exhibitions and programs.A Library staff member will perform a final review of eachtranscription before it is approved and marked complete. For thoseon social media, use the hashtag #LVAtranscribe for questionsand comments related to the project. For more information, visitthe website at www.virginiamemory.com/transcribe or contactus at makinghistory@virginiamemory.com. “Making History:Transcribe” is made possible in part by the Institute of Museum andLibrary Services and Dominion Virginia Power.—Sonya Coleman, Digital Collections SpecialistMAKE IT “SEARCHABLE”Top: One of the items in need of transcription (as we go to press) is this letter from anAccomack County freedom suit, part of the African American Narrative Project.Bottom: These items from the Library’s broadside collection have been transcribedbut need review.2014 | ISSUE NO. 4 broadSIDE 9