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Can you read cursive? The National Archives wants your help
Fox 5 ^ | 1/14/25

Posted on 01/14/2025 2:52:10 AM PST by EBH

If you have expertise in reading cursive, then there’s an opportunity that might peak your interest.

The National Archives is looking for someone who can transcribe (or classify) more than 200 years’ worth of U.S. documents.

Which historical documents must be transcribed? A team within the federal agency is looking for volunteers to read and transcribe records from Revolutionary War pension records that include applications and other records related to claims for pensions and bounty land warrants. Other historical materials include immigration documents from the 1890s and Japanese evacuation records.

What they're saying: Suzanne Isaacs, a community manager with the National Archives Catalog in Washington, D.C., tells USA Today in an interview that volunteers will help the agency transcribe or tag records in their catalog. They can simply pick a record that hasn’t been worked on, and it only requires a half hour a day or week to do it.

The National Archives is collaborating with the National Parks Service ahead of the nation's 250th birthday for a project, and they are reaching out to volunteers for assistance transcribing these documents.

How can I apply? What you can do: People interested in participating can sign up online at the National Archives website. There is no application to fill out, and all you have to do is register for a free user account in order to contribute to the National Archives Catalog, by clicking on the Log in / Sign Up button.

(Excerpt) Read more at fox5dc.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: 250thbirthday; archives; commoncore; cursive; cursivefoiledagain; epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs; history
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To: EBH

SAME KID ABLE TO READ AN ANALOG CLOCK????


81 posted on 01/14/2025 9:31:26 AM PST by ridesthemiles (not giving up on TRUMP---EVER)
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To: SunkenCiv

π’©π‘œπ“Œ π’Ύπ“ˆ 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 π’»π‘œπ“‡ 𝒢𝓁𝓁 π‘”π‘œπ‘œπ’Ή 𝓂𝑒𝓃 π“‰π‘œ π’Έπ‘œπ“‚π‘’ π“‰π‘œ 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒢𝒾𝒹 π‘œπ’» 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒾𝓇 π’Έπ‘œπ“Šπ“ƒπ“‰π“‡π“Ž........


82 posted on 01/14/2025 9:32:36 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: SunkenCiv

https://lingojam.com/CursiveTextGenerator


83 posted on 01/14/2025 9:33:24 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: EBH

π’©π‘œπ“Œ π’Ύπ“ˆ 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 π’»π‘œπ“‡ 𝒢𝓁𝓁 π‘”π‘œπ‘œπ’Ή 𝓂𝑒𝓃 π“‰π‘œ π’Έπ‘œπ“‚π‘’ π“‰π‘œ 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒢𝒾𝒹 π‘œπ’» 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒾𝓇 π’Έπ‘œπ“Šπ“ƒπ“‰π“‡π“Ž........


84 posted on 01/14/2025 9:33:39 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: XRdsRev

The “F”s were likely “long S”s which we dont use anymore. This kind of thing does make me wonder if just reading cursive will be enough to be accurate.


85 posted on 01/14/2025 9:35:54 AM PST by gnarledmaw (If you dont like my sense of humor, please let me know so I can laugh at you too.)
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To: LilFarmer

I taught all my children to read and write in cursive, too, and their handwriting was so beautiful. They stopped writing in cursive when they grew older, and now they seem to have forgotten the skill, except for their signatures. IMO, cursive writing is a good skill to master because it’s easy and quick when taking notes.


86 posted on 01/14/2025 9:36:47 AM PST by Tired of Taxes
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To: ClearCase_guy

𝐼𝒻 π“Žπ‘œπ“Š 𝒸𝒢𝓃 𝓇𝑒𝒢𝒹 π“‰π’½π’Ύπ“ˆ 𝓉𝒽𝒢𝓃𝓀 𝒢 π“‡π‘’π’Άπ“π“π“Ž π‘œπ“π’Ή 𝓉𝑒𝒢𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓇...............


87 posted on 01/14/2025 9:38:10 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: ClearCase_guy

https://lingojam.com/CursiveTextGenerator


88 posted on 01/14/2025 9:38:29 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: teacherwoes

𝐼𝒻 π“Žπ‘œπ“Š 𝒸𝒢𝓃 𝓇𝑒𝒢𝒹 π“‰π’½π’Ύπ“ˆ 𝓉𝒽𝒢𝓃𝓀 𝒢 π“‡π‘’π’Άπ“π“π“Ž π‘œπ“π’Ή 𝓉𝑒𝒢𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓇...............

https://lingojam.com/CursiveTextGenerator


89 posted on 01/14/2025 9:39:00 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: ducttape45

𝐼𝒻 π“Žπ‘œπ“Š 𝒸𝒢𝓃 𝓇𝑒𝒢𝒹 π“‰π’½π’Ύπ“ˆ 𝓉𝒽𝒢𝓃𝓀 𝒢 π“‡π‘’π’Άπ“π“π“Ž π‘œπ“π’Ή 𝓉𝑒𝒢𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓇...............

https://lingojam.com/CursiveTextGenerator


90 posted on 01/14/2025 9:39:59 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Red Badger

Cool website, I got it bookmarked!


91 posted on 01/14/2025 9:51:53 AM PST by ducttape45 (Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?")
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To: EBH

In the late 80’s to the mid-90’s, I spent many vacations at the National Archives going through military, pension and court martial records from the Civil War. They were all in long hand.


92 posted on 01/14/2025 9:51:56 AM PST by mass55th (β€œCourage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” ― John Wayne)
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To: EBH

From the story:
“If you have expertise in reading cursive, then there’s an opportunity that might peak your interest.”

It “pique”, you twits.


93 posted on 01/14/2025 10:01:56 AM PST by dagunk (-- Unknown)
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To: Preachin'

Shorthand... Now there’s a lost art. I remember when that skill was in demand.


94 posted on 01/14/2025 10:03:02 AM PST by Tired of Taxes
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To: gnarledmaw

Agreed !!! Also, having read a number of pension applications, it is useful to have a familiarity with various battles, smaller skirmishes, obsolete place names and Officer’s names and commands.


95 posted on 01/14/2025 10:34:27 AM PST by XRdsRev (Justice for Bernell Trammell, black Trump supporter, executed in the street in broad daylight 2020.)
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To: Carl Vehse

There are literally hundreds of different positions and specialties at the national archives. Most of which never handle actual documents. It is an archive not an library. Even those that do handle original documents may be experts in paper conservation/repair, electronic scanning, cataloguing etc. but cannot be expected to be able to read 18th and 19th century handwriting. The people who can do that at the archives are relatively few and there are tens of thousands of documents to translate. I commend them for enlisting qualified volunteers instead of trying to hire additional employees.


96 posted on 01/14/2025 10:41:02 AM PST by XRdsRev (Justice for Bernell Trammell, black Trump supporter, executed in the street in broad daylight 2020.)
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To: bert
"They just do not write any thing. All is accomplished on their computers. His world is totally digital."

Yes, that's been true for a long time. These days, college textbooks are online, too, and students type everything. Gone are the days when professors wrote notes on a board and students wrote those notes on paper. Now, the professors show power point presentations, and the students can download the professor's notes. 'Keyboard skills' are most important today.

College students still take tests on paper, though. I know of a professor who was giving essay tests in class, at least a few years ago. His students had to write their essays on paper. I don't know whether he still gives in-class essay tests.

But, what happens when typing skills become obsolete? That day is coming. It might be here now. I hope all these skills - handwriting and typing - do not become lost forever.

97 posted on 01/14/2025 10:44:24 AM PST by Tired of Taxes
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To: EBH

Bought an old deed while in London. It was from 1630. Didn’t have any problem with larger writing which was mix of both cursive and printing. Did have diffi ultrasound with f’s and s’s.


98 posted on 01/14/2025 10:56:05 AM PST by mware
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To: teacherwoes
Try reading those that are cross written.

Takes a bit to puzzle out.

99 posted on 01/14/2025 10:58:58 AM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Not my circus. Not my monkeys. But I can pick out the clowns at 100 yards.)
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To: mairdie
That script is rather archaic for 1865 - I see a medial β€œs” in there . . . he must have been an older gentleman.

I reviewed quite a mass of handwritten letters between family members who were in their 20s and 30s in 1862-1864. Much easier to read - a rounder, more vertical hand.

100 posted on 01/14/2025 11:03:08 AM PST by AnAmericanMother (Ecce Crucem Domini, fugite partes adversae. Vicit Leo de Tribu Iuda, Radix David, Alleluia!)
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