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One of the hazards of transcribing historical documents is that you never know when you might suddenly find yourself in the middle of a battle.听

鈥淚 was typing these notes about what seemed like a routine day [on an aircraft carrier],鈥� says Colleen Crook, a retired teacher. 鈥淏ut then the Japanese attacked 鈥� and there was a strafing incident and people died and it was very dramatic.鈥澨�

Ms. Crook, who lives in Columbus, Ohio, is a volunteer with the US National Archives. Programs like the one she鈥檚 part of can be found at libraries, archives, and other institutions across the United States, as groups push to digitize documents so they can be available to the public online. The keyboard work of these 鈥渃itizen archivists鈥� helps organizations complete projects that otherwise would not have been possible 鈥� and in return brings people closer to history.听

鈥淗aving a group of people work on it for you and create something that is useful and good for scholars is immeasurable,鈥澨齭ays Mario Einaudi, Kemble Digital Projects Librarian at the Huntington Library in San Marino, Calif.听

To prepare volunteers for the work, organizations host trainings and workshops, even 鈥渢ranscription parties.鈥澨齌hose who want to get right to it can visit websites like that of the or the Smithsonian鈥檚听听for digital volunteers. Online training prepares volunteers (there are already 10,748 of them on the Smithsonian site) to work on projects such as transcribing the field notes of an Irish naturalist who liked bees, or the receipts of an ivory trader.听

The purpose, the site explains to would-be typists, is to听鈥渕ake our collections more accessible and useful to curators, researchers, and anyone with a curious spirit. Because computers have a hard time understanding handwriting, many of our collections still hold many secrets and hidden knowledge inside their pages. With your help, we can bring that knowledge to life.鈥�

Projects throughout the country are benefitting from that spirit.听Thanks to more than 5,000 volunteers, it only took a year and a half to transcribe telegrams and ledgers for the project 鈥� launched in 2016 鈥� that Mr. Einaudi is in charge of at the Huntington Library.听鈥淚n terms of time and staff labor, we could have transcribed everything, but I estimate that it would have taken us four to five years,鈥澨齢e says.听

This was the first time the library had crowdsourced a major project. 鈥淭hat was totally new territory for us,鈥� he says.听

Elsewhere, volunteers like听Amber Oldenburg say that the activity听transports her to not only a time but a place she might otherwise never experience. 鈥淚 guess I like getting into records that I maybe would not have exposure to,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hen I鈥檓 looking at a Mexican baptismal record, I don鈥檛 usually see those on a daily basis.鈥�

Ms. Oldenburg 鈥� who is studying family history research at Brigham Young University-Idaho听and also conducts historical research for clients 鈥� has done most of her volunteer work through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One historical record she transcribed that stuck with her was a list of slaves in Louisiana. 鈥淵ou see the master鈥檚 name, and then all you see 鈥� it was just so heartbreaking. You just see these, just, checkmarks. 鈥楾en-year-old mulatto boy鈥� 鈥� you know, no names, nothing,鈥� Oldenburg says.

The current popularity of looking into a family鈥檚 past can sometimes motivate her to do one more record, hoping that it will help someone trying to connect the twigs on a family tree.听鈥淚 think it really does give me more incentive to say, rather than searching Facebook right now, I can be indexing this,鈥� Oldenburg says. 鈥淚 could be using my time more wisely.鈥�

But can amateurs really do what those trained professionally can? Patricia Delara, an assistant archivist at the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco and a processing archivist for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, says that transcribing is just a small part of the job. Her duties also include听processing collections and helping patrons and researchers, among various other tasks.听

鈥淚鈥檓 all for getting the public in and working together for the archives and 鈥� bring[ing records] out there, making it accessible...,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut I think there should be a different way to [refer to] these volunteers, because in a way, having a different name other than 鈥榗itizen archivist鈥� would also help put more into detail what the archives profession actually is.鈥�

One area that the public, including younger helpers, struggles with is being less familiar with cursive writing. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one of the most amazing things that I have seen as a librarian and as an archivist, is the fact that we have a younger generation that cannot read handwriting,鈥� says Einaudi, whose project offers a听 on historic cursive.听听

Despite that difficulty, staff at the Huntington Library are already anticipating tapping volunteers again. 鈥淎s a result of this, a number of our curators here are extremely excited about the possibility of continuing this and doing new projects with crowdsourcing of material,鈥� Einaudi explains.

When Crook, the volunteer from Ohio, thinks about those whom her work could help, she envisions her transcriptions aiding people who are attempting to find out more about their family tree.

鈥淚n terms of other research, I don鈥檛 know,鈥� Crook says. 鈥淚 hope it鈥檚 of value. But if not, it鈥檚 still interesting to me.鈥�