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Use your new indoor free time transcribing rare documents for the Library of Congress

Shaye Weaver
Written by
Shaye Weaver
Editor, Time Out New York
library of congress
Photograph: Shutterstock
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It's easy to while away the hours inside your apartment watching feel-good shows or trying to make headway on some spring cleaning, but if you're looking to do contribute something, the Library of Congress will have you.

The federal cultural institution is asking for help in transcribing thousands of significant written and typed documents, from Rosa Parks' writings to personal writings of the leaders of the Women's Suffrage Movement and more.

The "By the People!" program lets you choose what papers to transcribe and you don't need any experience to do it.

If transcribing Rosa Parks's writings, you'll find that she was loving, compassionate, and nonjudgmental in the relationships that mattered most to her, according to the Library of Congress.

You can also explore the papers of leading suffragists such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Anna E. Dickinson, read through letters to President Abraham Lincoln or transcribe historical legal documents written in Spanish.

You don't need to sign up to try it, you just type on the page next to the document. When you're ready to submit, tag it with keywords and then sign up to edit your text.

So if you're up to both learn and help further society's understanding on a historical event or leader, now's your chance to contribute.

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