Picturing Michigan’s Past: Transcribing Handwritten Postcards

Postcard depicting two white boat on the greenish-blue waters of the Saginaw River. Several people in canoes can be seen on the river. In the background are several homes and large green trees along the shoreline.

For the past few months, I’ve been looking for a volunteer opportunity. Something that I feel connected with and where I can contribute an hour or more at a time.

A project that doesn’t require huge blocks of time.

In the past, I would volunteer at a local school library. But I haven’t done any in-person volunteering since before the Covid pandemic.

What I wanted was a virtual volunteer opportunity. And my goal was to find something local to my community or state.

Which is what I found when I discovered Picturing Michigan’s Past, a Zooniverse volunteer project at the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan.

Given my background working at and volunteering at libraries since I was a teenager, I’m not surprised I found a research project at a library.

Continue reading Picturing Michigan’s Past: Transcribing Handwritten Postcards