Every Tuesday, the CSPM will post a new journal entry from the Palmer journal on our Facebook page with a link to our website. Transcribe the handwriting and send it to us at cosmuseum@coloradosprings.gov

The manuscript collections in the Archives of the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum are filled with resources that reveal the richly diverse history and culture of the Pikes Peak Region. These collections include handwritten letters, journals, diaries, ledgers, receipts, research notes, and more.

Transcribing these primary sources allows them to be more useful to researchers and staff alike. Would you like to help make these unique materials more accessible? How about starting with helping us transcribe the Honeymoon Journal of Queen and William Jackson Palmer.

Nineteenth-century handwriting can be tricky to read! Here are a few tips:

• Compare words and letters throughout the page to confirm you are reading the text correctly.
• Consider the context, how can the rest of the story help you figure out a difficult word?
• If you are stuck on a word, just write [illegible] and then move on to the next word.
• Have fun! If you don’t get a word right, no need to worry! We are crowd-sourcing these transcriptions so that together – we will figure out all the words.

Archivists and curators do this as well, we have multiple people transcribe the same historic document to ensure accuracy.