Citizen Historian: Transcription of Remembering Lincoln Sources

Lesson Activity One: Introduction to Transcription
Ask students to reflect on why transcription is useful and important to different members of the community. If students are struggling to come up with answers ask them how it might be helpful to the following people:

• Historian
• Student
• Visually Impaired Researcher

Explain to students that they will be transcribing an item related to the Lincoln assassination. This would be a good time to show the Remembering Lincoln website to them and showing them what is included on the website. Pass out the transcription guide and review it as a class.

Lesson Activity Two: Transcription
Have students venture to the Remembering Lincoln website. Before having them search for an item to transcribe, you help them become familiar with the search by giving them mini-quests, such as:

• Find a source from a Confederate state.
• Find a source written by a woman.
• Find a source about the journey of Lincoln's funeral train.

They should begin searching for a source by going to "Browse Reponses" (http://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/browse) and picking one of these tags: “untranscribed: handwritten” (http://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/browse/all/all/?tags=untranscribed:%20handwritten) or “untranscribed: printed” (http://rememberinglincoln.fords.org/browse/all/all/?tags=untranscribed:%20printed). They can limit their searches by using other search terms as well.

Once students have picked an item, they should open a Google document and transcribe the item using the transcription guidelines. To limit kids from picking the same source, the teacher can use a shared Google doc for students to list their sources. Students should refer to the Cursive Letter Reference Guide (included with this lesson) if they are having trouble transcribing handwritten items.

After they are finished with the transcription, they should share their document with another student. The other student should review the transcription and highlight any inaccuracies. After the item is reviewed, the reviewer and transcriber should meet and decide on a final transcription and submit the transcription using this link: http://goo.gl/forms/yS863RuGcgN5msNb2
A Ford’s Theatre staff member will contact you about including the transcription on the website.

Lesson Activity Three: Summary of Learning
The teacher can use an agreement circle to review the different responses of Lincoln’s assassination around the United States and world. An agreement circle allows students to see what views are in the minority and majority. In an agreement circle, students stand in a circle and the teacher makes a statement. Students whose sources agree with the statement step forward. Some suggested statements include:

• My source is from the North.
• My source celebrated the assassination.
• My source discussed the manhunt.
• My source mourned the assassination.
• My source was from the first month after the assassination.
• My source included an image (map, pictures, sketch, etc)
• My source was written by ______________ (solider, woman, formerly enslaved person, etc)

After the agreement circle, students should return to their seats. The teacher should lead a class discussion on what the students learned from transcribing the sources. Example discussion questions could include:

• Did different parts of the country react differently to assassination?
• Why do you think that was?
• How is the news the similar to today? How is it different?

Assessment:
The teacher can finish class by having student fill out an exit card completing the following sentence: “I used to think…but now I know…”

Extension: If the students enjoying transcribing primary sources, the teacher might want to introduce students to the Smithsonian Institution’s Transcription Center: https://transcription.si.edu/

A special thank-you to Jason Rude of New Hampton Middle School, New Hampton, Iowa, and Elissa Frankle and Eric Schmalz of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum for their assistance in preparation of this teaching module.