Volunteer Projects
Volunteering is a great way to gain some practice by transcribing real documents for a real organization. Unless otherwise indicated, all opportunities listed here include records in a variety of languages. If you'd like to have your project listed, please fill out this contact form.
Index historical records by quality checking transcriptions completed by OCR (optical character recognition). Requires a free FamilySearch account.
Transcribe documents shared from all over the world, or upload your own documents (up to 200 pages for free) and request help. This site offers indexing and metadata description capabilities, and you can choose to make projects public or private. Collaborate with and learn from other transcribers.
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Digital Volunteer Transcription Project (English only)
Many projects to choose from, including Black Lives in the Founding Era, Civil War Letters, Founding Era Newspapers, Sylvia Weiner's Letters from the World War II Brooklyn Home Front, Thomas Rogers Booth Diaries, Women in the Founding Era: The Papers of Catherine Graham MaCaulay, and World War I Keystone Stereocards.
Massachusetts Historical Society
You don't have to live in Massachusetts to contribute. Be sure to read MHS's institution-specific transcription guidelines before getting started.
Smithsonian Digital Volunteers: Transcription Center (English only)
As a "volunpeer," you'll have the opportunity to transcribe "field notes, diaries, ledgers, logbooks, currency proof sheets, photo albums, manuscripts, biodiversity specimen labels, and historic audio recordings." Dozens of collections and themes to choose from that are categorized into five difficulty levels.