The National Archives wants help to transcribe 300 million documents

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The National Archives is seeking volunteers who can read cursive to help transcribe the more than 300 million digitized objects in its catalogue, saying the skill is a “superpower”.

The pen style has become almost obsolete as typing and texting take over.

Most American schools no longer teach handwriting, instead focusing on keyboard skills.

Currently, 24 states require cursive to be taught—but that alone may not help the National Archives’ task.

“It’s not just a matter of whether you learned cursive in school, but how much you use cursive today,” Suzanne Isaacs, a community manager with the National Archives Catalog in Washington, DC, told USA TODAY. .

“We set up missions where we ask volunteers to help us transcribe or label records in our catalog,” Isaacs explained, saying he has more than 200 years worth of documents to go through.

The organization has registered over 5,000 citizen archivists, but could still use more help.

“There is no application,” Isaacs said. “Just select a recording that has not been made and read the instructions. It’s easy to do for half an hour a day or a week.â€

The records range from Revolutionary War pension records to the 1950 Census.

Volunteer Christine Ritter, 70, who lives in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania is currently deciphering Revolutionary War pension records for soldiers who served at the Battle of Guildford Court on March 15, 1781.

She takes great pride in her work thinking about how people will feel about being able to discover these artifacts and connect them to their family stories.

“I wake up in the morning and have breakfast with my husband, then he goes fishing and I come into my study, I have my computer and I put on my oldies radio station and I just start transcribing,” she told USA TODAY.

“I just love him so much.â€