Transform/Transcribe: Promoting Hidden Histories Through Community Involvement.
Panel
2B: Collaborating and Crowd Sourcing
Abstract
I propose a presentation and demonstration of Transform/Transcribe, a new crowdsourced transcription project of the Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections. Through this project archives stafff work with alumnae, faculty, students, and the general public to transcribe handwritten letters and help women's history collections become more accessible. The project began with the personal papers of Mount Holyoke College President Mary Wooley and Professor Jeannette Marks, educators and partners for over 50 years. Their letters collections holds great potential for the study of women in academia and LGBTQ history. Additional collections have since been added, including the early letters and diaries of Mount Holyoke students. Opened in November 1837, Mount Holyoke was ont of the first institutions of higher education in the United States to offer demale students coursework equivalent to that available to men, and the school is the first of the historic Seven Sisters Colleges. Mount Holyoake's Archives and Special Collections contains original letters and diaries of many of the earliest students who attended the school during founder Mary Lyon's tenure, 1837 through 1849. Filled with details about their classes, teachers, classmates, social activities, health, athletic endeavors, and families, these materials are a rich and lively resource for women's history. Transform/Transcribe has promoted the use of primary source research in Mount Holyoke classes, including discussion with students about the differing ways in which digital reproductions and physical originals can be examined and provide information. In addition, the project has supported faculty members' blended learning acti"Back-to-class" sessions with Mount Holyoke College alumnae during annual Reunion activites, the project promotes intergenerational connections as older and newer alums work together to transcibe materials and discuss women's history. These connections have been an important and inspiring outcome of the project, and have led to deeper connections with the College's history and with the history of women in higher education. Mount Holyoke's small but mighty Archives and Special Collections staff of two has prioritized this project and will continue to support it because the outcomes have been so positive and powerful. We encourage others to consider how crowdsourced transcription may be an important and inspiring tool for your own work.
Transform/Transcribe: Promoting Hidden Histories Through Community Involvement.
I propose a presentation and demonstration of Transform/Transcribe, a new crowdsourced transcription project of the Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections. Through this project archives stafff work with alumnae, faculty, students, and the general public to transcribe handwritten letters and help women's history collections become more accessible. The project began with the personal papers of Mount Holyoke College President Mary Wooley and Professor Jeannette Marks, educators and partners for over 50 years. Their letters collections holds great potential for the study of women in academia and LGBTQ history. Additional collections have since been added, including the early letters and diaries of Mount Holyoke students. Opened in November 1837, Mount Holyoke was ont of the first institutions of higher education in the United States to offer demale students coursework equivalent to that available to men, and the school is the first of the historic Seven Sisters Colleges. Mount Holyoake's Archives and Special Collections contains original letters and diaries of many of the earliest students who attended the school during founder Mary Lyon's tenure, 1837 through 1849. Filled with details about their classes, teachers, classmates, social activities, health, athletic endeavors, and families, these materials are a rich and lively resource for women's history. Transform/Transcribe has promoted the use of primary source research in Mount Holyoke classes, including discussion with students about the differing ways in which digital reproductions and physical originals can be examined and provide information. In addition, the project has supported faculty members' blended learning acti"Back-to-class" sessions with Mount Holyoke College alumnae during annual Reunion activites, the project promotes intergenerational connections as older and newer alums work together to transcibe materials and discuss women's history. These connections have been an important and inspiring outcome of the project, and have led to deeper connections with the College's history and with the history of women in higher education. Mount Holyoke's small but mighty Archives and Special Collections staff of two has prioritized this project and will continue to support it because the outcomes have been so positive and powerful. We encourage others to consider how crowdsourced transcription may be an important and inspiring tool for your own work.