Read about the ways that organizing collections through themes can uncover relationships between materials in the Transcription Center at this post I wrote for SIA Bigger Picture Blog.

Great news! The Smithsonian Digital Volunteers Transcription Center is back up and live!! As you check out the improved features and try your hand at transcription (and reviewing!), consider the ways we may be able to organize existing and future collections. This post I wrote for the Smithsonian Institution Archives Bigger Picture Blog last week suggests several themes. Do you have any other suggestions?

Finally, reorganizing and finding new relationships between materials may also allow us to ask new questions – using the data from the transcribed pages to answer lingering questions and round out new stories. We can also learn more about and provide context for the successes and challenges the scientists, artists, and authors faced; and how these experiences relate to our lives today.