From September 4th to September 18th, the Phoenix Branch transcribed 24 historical documents as part of the archivist volunteer program.
Amy Xie transcribed 7 documents: Air Force Award Cards [Air Medal]: Crane, Alvin – Critz, William pg 1006, pg 1007, Pickwick Dam: Byrd – Higgins pg 789, pg 791, pg 793, pg 794, and pg 795.
“The air force reward cards took me less than 10 minutes to do, as there as little written on them. The Pickwick Dam Documents took about 40 minutes to an hour each as they were long and the system kept refreshing every five minutes causing me to lose my unsaved transcription. I read about a man named Seamon Hayes who has financial issues and consults help with public workers. He hopes to move to Arkansas to start a farm, but he is unable to move there because moving is too costly. He worked part time at a tie factory, but he is not able to make a lot for his family. He was also described as bad at money management, and I thought his situation was unfortunate.”
Annie Qin transcribed one document: USS S-26, August 1941 – January 1942 pg.2/2
“The document described the submarine USS S-26’s dives during World War II It was on patrol for six days and it recorded the dives and observations.”
Yongfen Chen transcribed 4 documents: Agriculture Land [1 of 3] pg 126, pg 127, pg 128, and pg 135.
“I did Agriculture land pg 126. I learned The signing of the armistice, bringing about a gradual cessation of war industries or a change in factory processes and products.”
“I learned that There was neither soap nor warm water for washing the hands during the war and of 34 employers who expressed a definite opinion on this subject, 14 said that they found the work
of Negro women as satisfactory as other women workers, and 3 found their work better than that of the white women they were working with or had displaced.”
Wenting Chen transcribed one document: Williamson pg. 42.
“I did Williamson pg. 42. I found it interesting that we have no idea why they have to die.”
Jack Xie transcribed 7 documents: Robinson, Hetty H. v. Mandell, Thomas et al 2592, 2593, 2595, 2594, 2596, 2600, and2607.
“This document was rather unique, and was about a court decision. This document was interesting in the way there were blank spaces, which could’ve been added for censorship. There were also random line jumps which was annoying to read. This took me 30 minutes to transcribe.”
“This document was about the conclusions of a case. The conclusion made by the judge was that the other person had to give the claimant more than 4000 dollars, for doing something that was not specified. This took me 15 minutes to transcribe.”
“This document was very similar to document 2593, in the way that they were both short and case conclusions. This document was kind of a continuation of document 2593. This took me 15 minutes to transcribe.”
“This document was similar to document 2592, and also had weird blank spots and spacing. The content was rather confusing, but I think it was about commands given by a jury. This took me 15 minutes to transcribe.”
“This document was the exact same as document 2594. This was again, like a list of commands given by a jury. This document took me 15 minutes to transcribe.”
“This document is basically the same as document 2594, but this time there are two documents stacked on top of each other, instead of just one document. Again, to summarize, the document was about the commands given by a jury from a 1800 case. This took me 30 minutes to transcribe.”
“This document was similar to document 2595, but the difference was that half of the text was upside down. This made it incredibly difficult to transcribe. This took me 30 minutes to transcribe.”
Annie Fritzgerald transcribed 4 documents: Near PRA mile 1447.5, Facing south towards the Kiskatinaw Bridge; A section of the completed road through farm lands of the Peace River Valley, Takhini River bridge from east bank facing down stream, and Placing pit gravel for subgrade reinforcement; Looking through PRA building section through a coulee.
“From these documents, I’ve learned about all the construction projects, such as the Takhini bridge, on the Alaska highway in 1943. Pictures were included in the documents that illustrated how the construction was built. Overall, these transcriptions took an hour. ”
volunteers: Amy Xie, Annie Qin, Yongfen Chen, Wenting Chen, Jack Xie, Annie Fritzgerald
