Citizen Archivist Dashboard

Home > Citizen Archivist > Citizen Archivist Missions

Citizen Archivist Missions

Contribute!

Ready to start tagging and transcribing? We've curated these topical missions to help you jump in and contribute! Click on a topic that interests you, and it will bring you right to those historical records in our Catalog. Tagging and transcribing makes these records more accessible to everyone. New missions are added and updated regularly, so check back often to see what’s new.

New to our Citizen Archivist program? Learn how to register and get started. 
Already have an account? Login here. 

Escape and Evasion Reports

Escape and Evasion Reports

Transcribe reports that typically include typed or handwritten narrative that documents the escape and evasion experience of the escapee or evader. Reports can also include a brief questionnaire concerning the use of escape and evasion (E&E) training and equipment; an interrogation form with unit designation, target information, number of missions flown, date considered missing in action, date returned to U.S. or allied control, country of escape or evasion, and more.

Homestead Final Certificates from the Bureau of Land Management

Homestead Final Certificates, 1863 - 1894

Help us transcribe Homestead Final Certificates from the Omaha, Nebraska Land Office including proof of publication, affidavits, applications, and more.

African American History

African American History

The National Archives holds a wealth of material documenting the African American experience. Explore our records documenting African American History and help transcribe these records to make them more searchable and discoverable in the Catalog. More information about African American research can be found on our website, archives.gov/research/african-americans

Confederate Slave Rolls

Confederate Payrolls of Enslaved People

Can you read cursive writing? Help us transcribe payrolls for enslaved labor on Confederate military defenses including forts, entrenchments, obstructions on navigable rivers, "nitre" works, harness-making shops, ordnance works, and arsenals, in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. You are also welcome to tag names and places found on each page.

Reports of Clerks, Wagonmasters, and Printers Employed at Various Posts, 1865

Reports of Clerks, Wagonmasters, and Printers Employed at Various Posts, 1865

Transcribe reports submitted by quartermaster officers to the Quartermaster General (QMG), Washington, DC, in compliance with QMG General Order 51 of August 31, 1865

European Name Index to the Series

European Name Index to the Series "Case Files, 1944-1949"

Help us transcribe index cards that contain the name of an individual, a case number, a summary of information from the case relating to the individual, the letter "V" (victim), "W" (witness), or "A" (accused), and often the date the document being described was filed and the document number.

Second Release of Subject Files Under the Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Disclosure Acts

Second Release of Subject Files Under the Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Disclosure Acts

Transcribe reports, memorandums, messages, summaries, correspondence, dispatches, translations, contracts, receipts, biographies, financial records, itineraries, organizational charts, lists, minutes, transcripts, tables, maps, administrative records, legal documents, chronologies, and other records. Most of the records relate to Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) projects aimed at overthrowing or weakening Communist governments in Soviet Bloc countries during the Cold War.

 

Mount Edgecumbe Boarding School Yearbooks

Mount Edgecumbe Boarding School Yearbooks

Help us transcribe yearbooks or annuals from Mount Edgecumbe Boarding School. Journalism students, student photographers, student artists and others produced the "Taheta" yearbook for the years 1947 through 1983.

Don't Leave Us Hanging

Don't Leave Us Hanging

Help us complete these records that have not been fully transcribed.

 

Questions? Email us at citizenarchivist@nara.gov

Outside the Box Missions

Up for a challenge or something different? We often have records that require special work in order to make them more accessible. 

New to our Citizen Archivist program? Learn how to register and get started. 
Already have an account? Login here.

Chinese Heritage

Chinese Heritage

Help us transcribe and tag records related to the Chinese Exclusion Era. We need your help transcribing these immigration records and tagging very specific details that will help provide greater access to these records. Please read the instructions on the mission page carefully and begin contributing.

Join the mission

Native American Photographs Tagging Mission


Native American Photographs Tagging Mission

MISSION COMPLETED! Thanks to the contributions of Citizen Archivists, more than 18,000 photographs from the Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) have been tagged with topical subject tags. These contributions helped to create the Bureau of Indian Affairs Photographs Finding Aid where the records can be viewed by Tribal Nation, Topic, or State.

Explore the Bureau of Indian Affairs Photographs Finding Aid

 

Record Group Explorer Missions

The National Archives recently launched a new pathway to view and explore our records: the Record Group Explorer. You can use this tool to see an overview of the scans of records currently available in our Catalog, organized by Record Group and format. 

To celebrate the launch of the Record Group Explorer, we’ve created special missions for each Record Group. Give the Explorer a try while contributing as a citizen archivist! Jump in and help tag and transcribe:

We’ll feature additional Record Groups for future missions. Each of your contributions to these records will help unlock history and make them easier to find in our Catalog for other users. 

 

Transcriber Task Force

Transcriber Task Force

Seeking expert transcribers! We’ve gathered records that have tricky elements for our expert transcribers. You may find only a few pages that are difficult or the whole record. If you’d like to join our Transcriber Task Force and get emails for special projects, send us an email citizenarchivist@nara.gov

Get started transcribing!

Zooniverse

African American Civil War Soldiers

Give voice to American soldiers and help transcribe records from the National Archives on the Zooniverse platform:

  • The American Soldier: Transcribe this remarkable collection of more than 65,000 handwritten reflections by U.S. soldiers who fought during the Second World War.
  • African American Civil War Soldiers: Transcribe military records of over 200,000 African Americans soldiers who fought for their freedom in the American Civil War.

Featured Records

Jump in and help us transcribe these individual records. Documenting events throughout United States history, transcribers of all skill levels are sure to find something new and interesting in these featured records!​

Beginner

  • Darrell Crain, Jr., Papers, 1950 - 2016, Trip to Saudi Arabia, Correspondence Between Dr. Darrell Crain, Jr. and Bakur Abbas Khomais Transcribe this record.
  • 228-03 Interviews about Logistical Areas in Saigon Area - 20JUN1966 Transcribe this record.
  • Despatches from U.S. Ministers to Mexico, 1823-1906, Volume 147; September, 1900 Transcribe this record.
  • Admiralty Case Files, Notice of Shipping - 600 Cases of Cartridges 303 Mark VII. Exhibit 13a Transcribe this record.
  • Bankruptcy Act of 1867 Name Index to Petitioners, 1867 - 1878, [Last Names: Ho - Z] Transcribe this record.
  • General Records of the Department of Commerce, 1898 - 2000, Minutes of Meetings, October 17, 1898 - February 5, 1900 Transcribe this record.
  • Patricia Caulfield v. Andy Warhol, Leo Castelli, Inc. d/b/a Castelli Galleries, Inc., Leo Castelli, Poster Originals, Ltd., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Ben Birillo, Inc., Otto Wittenborn d/b/a Wittenborn & Company, William S. Zierler, John Powers Transcribe this record.
  • Reindeer Program Correspondence, 1914 - 1945, Sale of live reindeer Lopp negotiations 1934-1935 Transcribe this record.
  • Records of the U.S. Forces in Southeast Asia, 228-03 Troop Test M60AI Add on Stabalization System - 10NOV1971 Transcribe this record.
  • Albert A. Zink, et al. v. Black Star Line, Inc., Correspondence and Records of Repair Transcribe this record.


Intermediate

  • Confidential Cablegrams Sent from General John J. Pershing to the Adjutant General, 1917 - 1919, Cable Number 79, Paris, France, 03 August 1917 Transcribe this record.
  • Official Military Personnel File for Leonard Matlovich Transcribe this record.
  • Folder, "Cables, [Cables, memos, reports, and other material, 11/63-5/67] Vol. XVI, 8/16‑31/64, 1 of 2," Vietnam Country File, NSF, Box 7 Transcribe this record.
  • Appellate Jurisdiction Case Files, 1792 - 2017, Case File 116, October Term 1966, In Re Gault Transcribe this record. 
  • Official Military Personnel File of James M. Stewart Transcribe this record.
  • Records of Interdepartmental and Intradepartmental Committees (State Department), 1917 - 1981, 334.0 Military Information Control Subcommittee, Part III THRU 334.0 Foreign Policy Information Subcommittee, Part I Transcribe this record.
  • Approved Pension File for Bertha Greaves, Widow of Clinton Greaves, Companies A, B, C, and H, 9th U.S. Cavalry Regiment; and Companies of Instruction B and C, General Service (WC-11779) Transcribe this record. 
  • San Francisco Branch Evacuee Property Files, Sacramento Field Representative File (Part 7 of 10) Transcribe this record.
  • San Francisco Branch Evacuee Property Files, 3/18/1942 - 6/30/1946, [R7.20] Los Angeles Branch Motor Vehicle Forms (Part 5 of 27) Transcribe this record.
  • Court-Martial Case Files Relating to the Hesse Crown Jewels Case, 1946 - 1948; Volume I - 3 - Jack W. Durant - Record of Trial Transcribe this record.


Advanced

  • Letters Received Concerning Lighthouses, 1789 - 1819, Accounts Paid, 1803-1816 Transcribe this record.
  • Folder, "Presidential Decisions-Gulf of Tonkin Attacks of August 1964-Volume I, Tab 9, 2 of 2," NSC Histories, NSF, Box 38 Transcribe this record.
  • Case File of George Preston -- Ordnance Sergeant 6th Regiment US Infantry -- US Army Transcribe this record.
  • Bankruptcy Act of 1898 Dockets, 1898 - 1979, Reading Company, 1971 Transcribe this record.
  • Logbooks of Ships and Shore Installations, 1948-1972, USCGC Eastwind (WAG-279/WAGB-279), January 1956 - December 1956 Transcribe this record.
  • Folder, "Presidential Decisions-Gulf of Tonkin Attacks of August 1964-Volume I, Tab 9, 1 of 2," NSC Histories, NSF, Box 38 Transcribe this record.
  • U.S. v. Douglas Chandler in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Boston, May 29, 1947 Transcribe this record. 
  • Records of the Public Buildings Service, 1801 - 2000, Letters Sent, 1/1858-1/1930, Vol. 2: Pages 950-1047: Letters 181-209 Transcribe this record.
  • War Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records, 1709 - 1939, Numbered Record Books, 1894 - 1913, British Orderly Book Transcribe this record.
  • Criminal Case Files, 1879 - 1987, United States of America v. Rose Pastor Stokes Transcribe this record.

 

Questions? Email us at citizenarchivist@nara.gov

Top