Citizen Archivist Dashboard

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 the National Archives' Citizen Archivist program? Learn how to register and get started and view the video How to Transcribe in the National Archives Catalog and other how-to videos on the Resources page if you need instructions.

Looking for a previous mission? Visit Mission History

ATTENTION:

  • Users need to log in and log out of their Catalog accounts each day so that if our developers make any code changes to the Catalog overnight, your account and Citizen Archivist experience will work properly.

RevWar Banner

Revolutionary War Pension Files Transcription and Tagging Missions

The stories of over 80,000 men and women who lived through the American Revolution are waiting to be told. Will you help us tell them?

Join the transcription mission!                        Join the tagging mission!

 

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 the National Archives' 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! We need your help transcribing these immigration records and tagging very specific details. Please read the instructions on the mission page carefully and begin contributing.

Join the mission

Featured Court Case

The United States of America vs. John Mohammad Ali

This file consists of a suit brought by the United States for the cancellation of a certificate of citizenship for John Mohammad Ali, who was born in India. The petition alleges that the Ali received a certificate of citizenship on May 26, 1921 from the US District Court in Detroit and that at the time when said certificate was so issued said defendant was not a "free white person" nor a "person of African nativity or descent"; and that, therefore, he was not eligible for citizenship per section 15 of the Naturalization Act. This lawsuit followed the Supreme Court decision in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, in which the court ruled that people from India were "not white" and therefore ineligible for citizenship.

Start transcribing now

 

Transcriber Task Force

Transcriber Task Force

Seeking expert transcribers! We’ve gathered records that have tricky elements for our expert transcribers. Here's what we'd like you to do:

  • Complete difficult transcriptions
  • Help decipher words that are marked [illegible]
  • Convert notations of [?]  [unreadable] or similar to [illegible].  We ask that you do this so that we’re consistent in how we indicate difficult words.

Get started transcribing!

1950 Census Transcription Projects

The 1950 Census is here! We're looking for help transcribing the initial name index for the 1950 Census. While you can transcribe any name or any page within the 1950 Census, we've identified several specific areas where we'd like your help transcribing.

Help refine the 1950 Census name index!

 

 

Questions? Email us at citizenarchivist@nara.gov

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