Transcribing the Muster Rolls: Tips & Methodology

Phase 1 of Civil War Bluejackets saw Citizen Scientists transcribing Muster Sheets from all the wartime U.S. vessels that began with the letters “A” and “B”. This both provided us with valuable information and trained our computer to electronically “read” the 19th century muster sheets. Now in Phase 2 the computer has electronically transcribed all the remaining vessel sheets, and we are asking you to check the transcription accuracy. Our Workflow asks you to compare a piece of text taken from a Muster Sheet Field with the computer transcription of it. If you deem it correct, you can move to the next image. If you feel it is wrong, we ask you to transcribe what you think the handwritten text says. Help with the Workflow can be found in the “Need Some Help With This Task?” prompt. We recommend that you make regular use of the “Need Some Help With This Task?” as well as the Field Guide and Tutorial during your classification work, as it contains a number of additional tips. For a visual aid on how we want you to complete the Workflow, you can check out this video on the Civil War Bluejackets YouTube Channel.

If you feel the computer has not transcribed a piece of text correctly and you are entering what you think it says, the most important thing to remember is to transcribe everything you see just as it is written, including any punctuation or characters. You will frequently encounter mis-spellings and abbreviations in the text, but even where this is the case record precisely as it appears on the sheet. Our Information Science team will use those transcriptions to improve their model.