From the Vault: Celebrating the 4th with a Bang

Periodically, we will dig back into our archive of blog posts to bring back moments, documents, and perspectives from the Papers of the War Department team over the years. Today, to commemorate Independence Day, we bring you this blog post originally published by Megan Brett in 2012. 

The Society of the Cincinnati in Providence, Rhode Island, made sure to celebrate the 12th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in an explosive manner. That year, 1787, they cajoled Jeremiah Olney, inspector of public and military stores, to give them twenty-four pounds of gunpowder from the public magazine. The powder was damaged and might not have been good for use in guns, but it certainly worked for shooting off cannon to celebrate Independence.

Welcome Back!

To our long-time community of transcribers: welcome back!

With the new look and feel of the site, we wanted to let those of you who have been with us for years know about some of the changes and new features of transcribing with the Papers of the War Department.

First of all, because of the move to a new transcription system, you will have to sign up for a new user account. You can use the same username as in the past, or create a completely new one if you like. 

We’re Back!

The Papers of the War Department team is happy to announce that we’re back online!

The last time you heard from us, we were putting transcriptions on hold to start a total redesign of the Papers of the War Department website with the support of a grant from the American Council of Learned Societies. This included migrating nearly 200 gigabytes of Papers of the War Department items, metadata, and image files into Omeka S, which now powers the website with a fully redesigned look and feel. We’ve also released an updated beta version of the Scripto plugin, which is facilitating transcription, with updated functionality for an easier transcription process.

Community Transcription: April 2018

April 2018 marked the eighty-fourth month since we opened the War Department archives to community transcription, and over five years after launch we still receive requests for transcriber accounts! Here is a snapshot of transcription activity for the last month:

Twenty-eight new transcribers signed up in April, which brings the total number of transcribers to 3,168 as of April 30, 2018. The individuals who signed up in April mentioned an interest in indigenous history, William Davies, western Virginia, and Cumberland Gap.

Transcription Freeze Begins on May 15

The PWD and Scripto teams at RRCHNM are making great progress in our efforts to upgrade and re-design the website and user’s experience.

Jim Safely is tackling the major work involved in managing the migration as well as redeveloping the Scripto transcription tool for Omeka S that will be integrated into the new Papers of the War Department digital edition.

To inform the redesign and user experience, Alyssa Fahringer and Megan Brett surveyed current PWD transcribers and Scripto + Omeka users. Jim Safely and Kim Nguyen are incorporating that feedback into Scripto’s data model, combining technical and user experience requirements for administrative editorial actions, and for the public space for transcription.

Community Transcription: March 2018

March 2018 marked the eighty-third month since we opened the War Department archives to community transcription, and over five years after launch we still receive requests for transcriber accounts! Here is a snapshot of transcription activity for the last month:

Twenty-four new transcribers signed up in March, which brings the total number of transcribers to 3,140 as of March 31, 2018. The individuals who signed up in March mentioned an interest in Six Nations Confederacy, Major Stewart Herbert, John Warren, Northwest Indian War, and Major William Colbert.

Community Transcription: February 2018

February 2018 marked the eighty-second month since we opened the War Department archives to community transcription, and over five years after launch we still receive requests for transcriber accounts! Here is a snapshot of transcription activity for the last month:

Twenty-seven new transcribers signed up in February, which brings the total number of transcribers to 3,116 as of February 28, 2018. The individuals who signed up in February mentioned an interest in Ohio, slavery in early America, Anthony Wayne, and New London, Virginia.

Community Transcription: December 2017 and January 2018

December 2017 and January 2018 marked the eightieth and eighty-first months, respectively, since we opened the War Department archives to community transcription, and over five years after launch we still receive requests for transcriber accounts! Here is a snapshot of transcription activity for the last two months:

Thirty-eight new transcribers signed up in December and January which brings the total number of transcribers up to 3,089 as of January 31, 2018. The individuals who signed up in the last two months mentioned an interest in forts along the Delaware River, scouts on the frontier, the settlement of Ohio, the first and second Canadian regiments, West Point, and the Chickamauga Tribe.

New Grants to Support PWD

The Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (RRCHNM) received two grants in 2017 that will ensure the long-term stability and accessibility of the Papers of the War Department (PWD).

The first comes from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) as one of five digital extension grants to migrate PWD to Omeka S that will offer efficient upgrade of the infrastructure and will provide a path for long-term preservation and access, while also allowing the team to redesign the user interface. This will enable greater use and discoverability of these early federal documents. Once fully migrated to Omeka S, the project’s existing metadata, which includes the names of thousands of individuals and geographic places referenced in correspondence, will be connected across the semantic web as linked open data.

Community Transcription: November 2017

November 2017 marked the seventy-ninth month since we opened the War Department archives to community transcription, and over five years after launch we still receive requests for transcriber accounts! Here is a snapshot of transcription activity for last month:

Forty-one new transcribers signed up last month which brings the total number of transcribers up to 3,051 as of November 30, 2017. The individuals who signed up in November mentioned an interest in the early years of the US Navy, Benjamin Stoddert, Tellico Blockhouse, William Blount, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, and the Treaty of Holston. 

Community Transcription: October 2017

October 2017 marked the seventy-eighth month since we opened the War Department archives to community transcription, and over five years after launch we still receive requests for transcriber accounts! Here is a snapshot of transcription activity for last month:

Thirty-two new transcribers signed up last month which brings the total number of transcribers up to 3,010 as of October 31, 2017. The individuals who signed up in October mentioned an interest in the state militia units, the early US Navy, colonial Virginia, and Army uniforms.

Community Transcription: September 2017

September 2017 marked the seventy-seventh month since we opened the War Department archives to community transcription, and over five years after launch we still receive requests for transcriber accounts! Here is a snapshot of transcription activity for last month:

Twenty-one new transcribers signed up last month which brings the total number of transcribers up to 2,978 as of September 30, 2017. The individuals who signed up in September mentioned an interest in the Cherokee nation, the Whiskey Rebellion, and Robert Elliot.

Community Transcription: August 2017

August 2017 marked the seventy-sixth month since we opened the War Department archives to community transcription, and over five years after launch we still receive requests for transcriber accounts! Here is a snapshot of transcription activity for last month:

Seventeen new transcribers signed up last month which brings the total number of transcribers up to 2,957 as of August 31, 2017. The individuals who signed up in August mentioned an interest in Lamb’s regiment, the XYZ Affair, the Iroquois, and Wayne’s campaign.

Community Transcription: July 2017

July 2017 marked the seventy-fifth month since we opened the War Department archives to community transcription, and over five years after launch we still receive requests for transcriber accounts! Here is a snapshot of transcription activity for last month:

Eighteen new transcribers signed up last month which brings the total number of transcribers up to 2,940 as of July 31, 2017. The individuals who signed up in July mentioned an interest in the Battle of the Wabash/St. Clair’s defeat, the Georgia lowcountry, and Spanish Florida.

Community Transcription: June 2017

June 2017 marked the seventy-fourth month since we opened the War Department archives to community transcription, and over five years after launch we still receive requests for transcriber accounts! Here is a snapshot of transcription activity for last month:

Five new transcribers signed up last month which brings the total number of transcribers up to 2,922 as of June 30, 2017. The individuals who signed up in June mentioned an interest in the interactions between Native Americans and the federal government.

Community Transcription: May 2017

May 2017 marked the seventy-third month since we opened the War Department archives to community transcription, and over five years after launch we still receive requests for transcriber accounts! Here is a snapshot of transcription activity for last month:

Twenty-one new transcribers signed up last month which brings the total number of transcribers up to 2,917 as of May 31, 2017. These individuals who signed up in May mentioned an interest in people and topics such as Edward Boylston, Moses Hazen, Alien and Sedition Acts, and treaties with the Seneca Nation.

Community Transcription: April 2017

April 2017 marked the seventy-second month since we opened the War Department archives to community transcription, and over five years after launch we still receive requests for transcriber accounts! Here is a snapshot of transcription activity for last month:

Twenty-two new transcribers signed up last month which brings the total number of transcribers up to 2,896 as of April 30, 2017. These individuals who signed up in April mentioned an interest in people and topics such as the history of the Cherokee Nation, John Jacob Ulrich Rivardi, Christopher Miller, the Whiskey Rebellion, Arthur St. Clair, and the Oneida nation.

Community Transcription: March 2017

March 2017 marked the seventy-first month since we opened the War Department archives to community transcription, and over five years after launch we still receive requests for transcriber accounts! Here is a snapshot of transcription activity for last month:

Twenty-four new transcribers signed up last month which brings the total number of transcribers up to 2,874 as of March 31, 2017. These individuals who signed up in March mentioned an interest in people and topics such as the history of the Choctaw Nation, William Simmons, Kentucky Mounted Volunteers, Battle of Fallen Timbers, Joshua Humphreys,  Oconee War, and Georgia.

Community Transcription: February 2017

February 2017 marked the seventieth month since we opened the War Department archives to community transcription, and over five years after launch we still receive requests for transcriber accounts! Here is a snapshot of transcription activity for last month:

Twenty new transcribers signed up last month which brings the total number of transcribers up to 2,850 as of February 28, 2017. These individuals who signed up in February mentioned an interest in people and topics such as the Chickasaw nation, Chocktaw nation, Navy uniforms, and George Washington’s funeral.

Community Transcription: January 2017

January 2017 marked the sixty-ninth month since we opened the War Department archives to community transcription, and over five years after launch we still receive requests for transcriber accounts! Here is a snapshot of transcription activity for last month:

Twenty new transcribers signed up last month which brings the total number of transcribers up to 2,830 as of January 31, 2017. These individuals who signed up in January mentioned an interest in people and topics such as Fort Rensselaer, Fort Plain, Marinus Willett, Mohawk Indians, French Broad Rivers, and pilot boat schooners.

Community Transcription: December 2016

Happy New Year!

December 2016 marked the sixty-eighth month since we opened the War Department archives to community transcription, and over five years after launch we still receive requests for transcriber accounts! Here is a snapshot of transcription activity for last month:

Twenty new transcriber signed up last month which brings the total number of transcribers up to 2,810 as of December 31, 2016. These individuals who signed up in December mentioned an interest in people and topics such as John Sevier, land grants, and the battle of the Wabash.

Community Transcription – Sixty-Seven Months

November marked the sixty-seventh month since we opened the War Department archives to community transcription. We continue to receive regular requests for transcriber accounts. Here is a snapshot of transcription activity for the month:

Thirty-five new transcriber signed up last month, and as of November 30, the total number of transcribers was 2,790. These new transcribers come from a variety of backgrounds and include researchers, genealogists, historians, university students, and librarians.

Community Transcription – Sixty-Six Months

October marked the sixty-sixth month since we opened the War Department archives to community transcription. We continue to receive regular requests for transcriber accounts. Here is a snapshot of transcription activity for the month:

Twenty-five new transcriber signed up last month, and as of October 31, the total number of transcribers was 2,755. These new transcribers come from a variety of backgrounds and include researchers, writers, university students, and genealogists.

Discovering Foreign Policy in the PWD

Elected and appointed officials in the 1790s faced a number of challenges when the war between Great Britain and France forced the United States into a defensive position. Federalists and Republicans debated loyalties as each faction sought to protect the commercial and political interests of the new nation. The Papers of the War Department offer a number of documents relevant to researchers interested in foreign policy of the early American republic. This post highlights documents that reveal some of this history.

Community Transcription – Sixty-Five Months

September marked the sixty-fifth month since we opened the War Department archives to community transcription. We continue to receive regular requests for transcriber accounts. Here is a snapshot of transcription activity for the month:

Forty-six new transcribers signed up last month, and as of September 30, the total number of transcribers was 2,730. These new transcribers come from a variety of backgrounds and include university students, genealogists, archivists, historians, and writers.