It’s always nice when your work fascinates you.

“All of these collections, to me, are ‘wow’ and interesting collections,” says North Carolina state archivist, Sarah Koonts.

And, now, Sarah and her team are asking you to come on board. The state has a program called, “Transcribe NC,” in which volunteers help transcribe documents in their collection.

The transcriptions of old letters and documents – often written in a form of cursive that some younger people, today, can’t decipher – helps broaden the reach of the archives.

“You might have a student, national history day project, use these World War I materials to talk about individual experience in the wear,” says Koontz. “Or, you might have a genealogist that uncovers their family name in a document.”

“You can find out things about your town,” adds digital access manager, Ashley Yandle. “What’s great about these records, in particular, is they photographs associated with them.”

The archives has tools to make the work easier for the volunteers and the volunteers’ work makes it easier for the rest of us.

“It makes it so that we have a better understanding and everyone who comes in and uses the archives – from wherever they are – a better understanding of these collections and all of these experiences,” says meta-data archivist, Anna Peitzman.

See some of the collection and the guides for deciphering the handwriting in this edition of the Buckley Report.