Completed Campaigns

Chicago 1977: People, Places, and Cultures
Completed: 2024-10-27

Put your researcher hat on and trace the people, places, and cultures of bustling 1977 Chicago. Through transcribing field notes, photo and audio logs, and[…]
“My great mass of papers”: Correspondence of Theodore Roosevelt
Completed: 2024-10-07

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) was a prolific writer, especially of letters. This campaign includes outgoing correspondence from throughout his busy life[…]
Walt Whitman
Completed: 2024-10-02

2019 marked the 200th anniversary of Walt Whitman's birth and the poet remains at the center of cultural conversations today. The Whitman campaign includes[…]
"Mr. President: What Will You Do for Woman Suffrage?": Woodrow Wilson’s File 89
Completed: 2024-09-21

Discover what the American people thought about women’s suffrage by transcribing documents sent to President Woodrow Wilson between 1912 and 1921.[…]
American Federation of Labor (A.F.L.) Letters in the Progressive Era
Completed: 2024-09-04

The rise of the American Federation of Labor (A.F.L.) coincided with widespread industrialization, urbanization, and immigration, all of which intersected[…]
Leonard Bernstein: Writings By, From, and To
Completed: 2024-08-09

Composer, conductor, teacher, and social activist, Leonard Bernstein, defined much of American music for the second half of the Twentieth Century. He[…]
Yours truly, Frederick Douglass
Completed: 2024-05-31

Born in slavery, Frederick Douglass went on to become a leading American abolitionist, orator, writer, and social reformer. He was also a newspaper editor,[…]
Civil War Soldiers: "Disabled but not disheartened"
Completed: 2023-11-27

William Oland Bourne (1819-1901) was a reformer, poet, editor, and clergyman who organized left-hand penmanship competitions for Union soldiers who had[…]
The Blackwells: An Extraordinary Family
Completed: 2023-09-11

Discover the extraordinary history of one family’s commitment to social reform movements such as abolition, women’s suffrage, and temperance. Blackwell[…]
American Creativity: Early Copyright Title Pages
Completed: 2023-08-17

Discover endlessly fascinating items in this time capsule of title pages. Sent in by authors and publishers to register their books and other works, they[…]
Historical Legal Reports from the Law Library of Congress
Completed: 2023-07-31

Calling all students of history, government, law, public policy, international relations, and other interested members of the public – help us expand[…]
“Such Eventful Times”: Women and the American Civil War
Completed: 2023-05-14

Few women who lived through the American Civil War remained untouched by the conflict, and their letters, diaries, and other personal papers document how[…]
We the Undersigned: Black South Carolinians Petition for Equal Rights, 1865
Completed: 2023-04-05

Months after the Civil War ended in 1865, over 3,000 African American residents of South Carolina submitted a petition of fifty-four feet in length urging[…]
Information and Disinformation: The World War II Rumor Project
Completed: 2022-10-18

Information and disinformation are often transmitted through rumors, jokes, and ditties. In 1942 the United States government enlisted the Office of War[…]
Organizing for Women’s Suffrage: The NAWSA Records
Completed: 2022-10-06

In the 1890s, the National American Woman Suffrage Association’s influence reached across the country, contributing to suffrage victories in the western[…]
Brothers in Arms: The Gladstone Afro-American Military Collection
Completed: 2022-03-27

The William A. Gladstone Afro-American Military Collection (ca. 500 items) spans the years 1773 to 1987, with the bulk of the material dating from the[…]
Ordinary Lives in George Washington’s Papers
Completed: 2022-03-16

George Washington’s papers are about more than George Washington. Because the first president was a dedicated record-keeper, his papers are also a source[…]
Theater for the People: Federal Theatre Project playbills
Completed: 2022-03-11

Between 1935 and 1939, the Federal Theatre Project employed thousands of performers, directors, playwrights, designers, and stage technicians to produce[…]
Artistic Trio: Georgia O’Keeffe & Alfred Stieglitz letters to Henwar Rodakiewicz
Completed: 2022-03-10

Between 1929 and 1947, painter Georgia O’Keeffe and her husband, the photographer and art impresario Alfred Stieglitz, each corresponded separately to[…]
Seers, Spiritualists, and the Spirit World: The experiments of Frederick Hockley
Completed: 2021-09-06

British Spiritualist, accountant, and Freemason, Frederick Hockley (1808-1885) is often credited with being a leading influencer of the nineteenth-century[…]
At the Library and in the Field: John and Alan Lomax Papers
Completed: 2021-09-02

John A. Lomax, Sr., and his son Alan Lomax became stewards of a nascent Archive of American Folk-Song in September 1933. Their tenure lasted until Alan[…]
Down to Raisins: The Remaining Letters to Lincoln
Completed: 2021-08-25

In 2020, Library of Congress staff transcribed specific campaigns within the By the People program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic building closures.[…]
Anna E. Dickinson Papers
Completed: 2021-08-25

Anna Elizabeth Dickinson (1842-1932) was a lecturer, reformer, actress, and author. She was a teenage phenomenon on the antislavery lecture circuit, and[…]
Mary Church Terrell: Advocate for African Americans and Women
Completed: 2021-08-10

Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954) educator, women's rights advocate, and civil rights activist, was the founding president of the National Association of[…]
James A. Garfield Diary: “His Confidential Friend”
Completed: 2021-05-12

Although an assassin’s bullet shortened his presidential administration to just six months in 1881, James A. Garfield (1831-1881) left an impressive[…]
Women’s Suffrage in Sheet Music
Completed: 2021-02-23

Historic sheet music offers a unique lens through which to explore the women’s suffrage movement. See both “pro-” and “anti-” suffrage sentiments and[…]
War Diaries of George S. Patton
Completed: 2021-01-22

In 2020, Library of Congress staff transcribed specific campaigns within the By the People program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic building closures.[…]
Letters to Lincoln
Completed: 2020-07-09

Abraham Lincoln led a busy life as a laborer, politician, lawyer, father, husband, and the first Republican President. Find out what occupied his mind by[…]
Elizabeth Cady Stanton Papers
Completed: 2020-06-15

Like her close collaborator Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906), Elizabeth Cady Stanton is one of the best-known women in American history, principally because of[…]
Susan B. Anthony Papers
Completed: 2020-05-11

With the possible exception of her close collaborator Elizabeth Cady Stanton, no woman is more associated with the campaign for women's voting rights than[…]
Carrie Chapman Catt Papers
Completed: 2020-04-25

The papers of suffragist, political strategist, and pacifist Carrie Lane Chapman Catt (1859-1947) reflect her steadfast dedication to two major ideals--the[…]
Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words
Completed: 2020-03-21

Rosa Parks is best known for one courageous act on one extraordinary day: she refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger on December 1, 1955, in[…]
The Man Who Recorded the World: On the Road with Alan Lomax
Completed: 2020-01-15

Discover rich folk traditions from America and the Caribbean by transcribing the notebooks and letters of folklorist Alan Lomax and his collaborators.[…]
"This Hell-upon-earth of a Prison": Samuel J. Gibson's Andersonville Diary
Completed: 2019-11-14

Union soldier Samuel J. Gibson (1833-1878) was a prisoner of war at the notorious Andersonville Prison following his capture by Confederate soldiers in[…]
Branch Rickey: Changing the Game
Completed: 2019-02-22

Branch Rickey (1881-1965) helped break the color line in Major League Baseball by recruiting Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Explore his[…]