08/29/2026
Calling all history and calligraphy lovers!
Join University Libraries inaugural Zooniverse crowdsourcing project to transcribe a set of letters from the American Revolution! Reverand Oliver Hart (1723–1795) was an influential Baptist minister, educator, and community leader in Charleston, South Carolina.
Hart was instrumental in garnering support for the Revolution among farmers in the backcountry, and he also played a key role in the development of early Baptist institutions in the South and was part of a broader network of religious leaders whose ideas helped shape social and cultural life in the colonial and Revolutionary periods. The Oliver Hart Papers features manuscripts, journals, and sermon notes from the Revolutionary Era, and they are all ready to be transcribed!
Transcribing is easy! Follow the instructions on the website to help the libraries add typed transcriptions from handwritten letters to their digital collections. These transcriptions will allow researchers to more easily read the documents and conduct full-text searching to further their understanding of the past. And it is completely free!
Head to the link below to get started!
https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/digicoll/usc-transcribes-together