TranscribeNC | NC Archives

About TranscribeNC

TranscribeNC is an online crowdsourcing project that anyone can take part in! Become a virtual volunteer and help us improve access to North Carolina's history by transcribing historic documents from our digital collections. We have many types of records that need transcription so you can pick something that sparks your interest.

How does it work?

Anyone can become a volunteer by signing up for an account on FromThePage, which is where our TranscribeNC projects are hosted. This software lets you transcribe documents and collaborate with other volunteers. You can review other people’s transcriptions or start working on one yourself! We have guidance to help you decipher handwritten documents and format your transcriptions.

Once completed, volunteer-created transcripts are reviewed and added to the North Carolina Digital Collections. They help everyone access history by making documents easier to read and improving their searchability.

Ready to get started? Click the button below to create a FromThePage account and begin your transcription journey today!

Sign Up to Join TranscribeNC

Guidance

Video: Introduction to Using FromThePage

Transcription Style Guides

Handwriting Resources

Colonial Court Records Resources

We add new items and swap out projects as transcriptions are completed. So check back soon (or sign up to receive email notifications from our lead project archivist) to see what new documents are available for transcription!

Questions about TranscribeNC? Send us an email at archives.projects@dncr.nc.gov.

Current Projects

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African American Education

Documents and photographs related to African American education in North Carolina before 1950, drawn from the collections of the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum and the State Archives of North Carolina

Cohabitation Records

This collection features records legitimizing the marriages of former enslaved peoples.

Edenton District: Execution Docket, 1794-1800

District Superior Court Records

District superior court records, 1755-1829, include Edenton, Fayetteville, Halifax, Hillsborough, Morgan, New Bern, Salisbury, Wilmington districts.

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General Assembly Session Records (1760-1762)

This collection features records of early North Carolina state legislatures found within the holdings of the State Archives of North Carolina.

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Military Papers

A selection of documents from World War I and World War II eras.

Regulator Movement

Records from the Regulator Movement. It was a brief uprising in eastern North Carolina from 1768 to 1771, before the start of the American Revolution.

Revolutionary War Era

Selection of documents from the Revolutionary War Era in North Carolina.

Tax Lists

The majority of the records are from the Colonial and Revolutionary War eras, but some lists date from as late as 1809. Each set of tax records includes slightly different information.

Travel Perspectives

Letters, scrapbooks, journals, photographs, postcards, newspaper clippings, and other materials dating primarily from the 1850s through the 1950s and representing the first significant wave of mass tourism in which North Carolinians participated.

Troop Rosters (1747-1893)

Troop Rosters (1747-1893) include lists, returns, records of prisoners, and records of draftees. Most of this collection is related to the Revolutionary War. Lists are usually pay or muster rolls.

Will Books

Part of the Secretary of State wills collection, this is a series of bound recorded copies of probated wills. Some volumes also contain recorded deeds, inventories of estates, powers of attorney, commissions, proceedings of the Court of Chancery, and Council minutes.

Women's History

This collection of documents provides a glimpse into the lives of North Carolina women as they changed history in our state and the nation during the 19th and 20th centuries

World War I Letters

World War I letters (correspondence) from the consistently expanding collections of the State Library and State Archives of North Carolina

World War II Letters

Selection of World War II letters from the Military Collection of the State Archives of North Carolina