Tag: Northumbria University
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Civil War Bluejackets Moving to Phase 2!
We have major (and exciting!) news to share with our Bluejackets Zooniverse Community. The data our Zooniverse volunteers has collected so far has paid enormous dividends, and is now allowing us to move into Phase 2 of the project. The transcriptions have now successfully trained our computer model to digitally read the wartime muster sheets—a…
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Bluejacket Community Discoveries: An Update on the Search for Frank Branch, African American Child in the U.S. Navy
Our last post in the Community Discoveries series told the story of Frank Branch, an African American boy enslaved in Richmond, Virginia who escaped to enlist in the wartime U.S. Navy (you can read it here). The discovery came thanks to our ongoing partnership with the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, who have a team…
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Bluejacket Community Discoveries: On the Trail of an African American Child in the Union Navy
Recently Civil War Bluejackets and the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society have been collaborating as part of our efforts to identify African American sailors on the muster sheets. A number of Society members have joined our Zooniverse community, where they are making invaluable contributions towards uncovering the stories of these men. One of them, @Grobster,…
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Bluejacket Community Discoveries: Recovering the Last, Lost Crew of USS Annie
For our latest Bluejacket Community Discoveries post, we take a look at the only muster sheet that relates to the unfortunate U.S. schooner Annie. The sheet has been worked and commented on by a number of our Civil War Bluejackets Community, including @mermex, @Beth52 and @KaiserSnowse. The reason it has drawn particular attention is its…
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Bluejacket Community Discoveries: An International Navy
A number of our previous posts have examined the international aspects of the wartime U.S. Navy, demonstrating just how cosmopolitan ships’ crews could be (e.g. see here). Recently one of our Zooniverse Community members @KaiserSnowse has been keeping an eagle-eye out for interesting nativities among the muster rolls, identifying a range of examples that serve…
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Ratings Focus: Landsmen
Our new “Ratings Focus” series takes a look at the different ratings you are encountering on the American Civil War Muster Rolls. The aim of these posts is to explain the roles and responsibilities of men who held a particular rating, and how that may have changed during the conflict. To start, we are taking…
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Celebrating Thanksgiving on a Union Monitor
As Thanksgiving approaches, we wanted to take a look at how U.S. sailors during the American Civil War celebrated the holiday. Thanksgiving was an important day for immigrants as well as for native-born Americans during the Civil War, as it provided them with an opportunity to embrace one of the flagship dates in their new…
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Bluejacket Community Discoveries: The African American Crew of USS Albemarle
Our latest Zooniverse Community Discoveries post is based on identifications made by Community member @bmp77, who noted that the entire crew on one muster sheet was marked as “negro”. @bmp77 identified that the ship in question was USS Albemarle, and the sheet was dated to June of 1865. We decided to take a closer “visual”…
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PRESS RELEASE: MAJOR NEW PROJECT TO REVEAL NEW INSIGHTS INTO 19TH CENTURY SAILORS IN THE U.S. NAVY
A new project will help tell the stories of sailors in the American Civil War in ways never before possible. The “Civil War Bluejackets” Project—so named because of the distinctive uniform worn by U.S. Civil War sailors—is a collaboration between historians at the Northumbria University, information and data scientists at the University of Sheffield and…
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Volunteer for Civil War Bluejackets Beta Testing!
We are moving closer and closer to the full launch of the transcription phase of Civil War Bluejackets, where we will be seeking Citizen Scientists to assist us in transcribing all the Civil War Muster Rolls of the U.S. Navy on the Zooniverse platform. We have just entered the Beta Testing phase on Zooniverse, where…
The Civil War Bluejackets Project 