Citizen Archivist Dashboard

Citizen Archivist Missions

Contribute!

Ready to start tagging and transcribing? We've curated these topical missions to help you jump in and contribute! Click on a topic that interests you, and it will bring you right to those historical records in our Catalog. Tagging and transcribing makes these records more accessible to everyone. New missions are added and updated regularly, so check back often to see what’s new.

New to the National Archives' Citizen Archivist program? Learn how to register and get started and view the video How to Transcribe in the National Archives Catalog and other how-to videos on the Resources page if you need instructions.

Looking for a previous mission? Visit Mission History

ATTENTION:

  • Users need to log in and log out of their Catalog accounts each day so that if our developers make any code changes to the Catalog overnight, your account and Citizen Archivist experience will work properly.

RevWar Banner

Revolutionary War Pension Files Transcription and Tagging Missions

The stories of over 80,000 men and women who lived through the American Revolution are waiting to be told. Will you help us tell them?

Join the transcription mission!                        Join the tagging mission!

 

Questions? Email us at citizenarchivist@nara.gov

Outside the Box Missions

Up for a challenge or something different? We often have records that require special work in order to make them more accessible. 

New to the National Archives' Citizen Archivist program? Learn how to register and get started
Already have an account? Login here.

Chinese Heritage

Chinese Heritage

Help us tag Chinese immigration records! We need your help tagging very specific details. Please read the instructions on the mission page carefully and begin contributing.

Join the mission

Featured Court Case

Appellate Jurisdiction Case File Gideon v. Wainwright

Gideon v. Wainwright is a 1960s case involving Clarence Earl Gideon's appeal to the Supreme Court. The case began when a robbery took place on June 3, 1961, when Gideon was charged and arrested for committing petty larceny. Unable to afford a lawyer and refused to be provided one by the trial court, Gideon was sentenced to five years in state prison. Gideon first petitioned the Florida Supreme Court for a writ of habeas corpus, which allows a detained person the right to question their detention in court, but was denied. Then, Gideon wrote to the United States Supreme Court about how he was denied the right to counsel, thus violating his Sixth Amendment rights, naming Louie L. Wainwright, Secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections, in the suit. Abe Fortas was assigned to Gideon's appeal and, by March 18, 1963, the Supreme Court agreed unanimously in favor of Gideon. With this decision, Gideon obtained a lawyer for his second trial and was acquitted of the charges.

Start transcribing now

 

Transcriber Task Force

Transcriber Task Force

Seeking expert transcribers! We’ve gathered records that have tricky elements for our expert transcribers. Here's what we'd like you to do:

  • Complete difficult transcriptions
  • Help decipher words that are marked [illegible]
  • Convert notations of [?]  [unreadable] or similar to [illegible].  We ask that you do this so that we’re consistent in how we indicate difficult words.

Get started transcribing!

1950 Census Transcription Projects

The 1950 Census is here! We're looking for help transcribing the initial name index for the 1950 Census. While you can transcribe any name or any page within the 1950 Census, we've identified several specific areas where we'd like your help transcribing.

Help refine the 1950 Census name index!

 

 

Questions? Email us at citizenarchivist@nara.gov

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