Crowd Insights into U.S. Civil War History
History enthusiasts are getting excited with news of a crowdsourcing project that aims to decode U.S. Civil War telegrams.
The nationwide initiative is being led by the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens and also involves a small number of universities, including the University of Minnesota.
To gain fresh insights into the war, the general public is being asked to transcribe and decipher a collection of nearly 16,000 Civil War telegrams between Abraham Lincoln, his Cabinet, and officers of the Union Army. Approximately one third of the messages were written in code.
The telegrams come from the archive of Thomas J. Eckert, the head of the military telegraph office of the War Department under Lincoln.
Project Phases
Participants will be provided with digitized images of the telegrams and code books, and in the first phase of the project (currently underway) they are transcribing the telegrams line by line.
In the second phase, volunteers will search through the database of materials to identify significant people, dates and times.
“The Huntington and its partners are delighted to make this vitally important collection accessible to the public in a way that will help improve our understanding of this critically important period in our nation’s history,” said David Zeidberg, Avery Director of the Library at The Huntington.
The transcription and decoding work will add to the national body of research on the U.S. Civil War and should help scholars and other interested parties with previously unavailable historical records. Who knows what they may reveal?
If you are interested in taking part, register on the Zooniverse website at decodingthecivilwar.org
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