Texas A&M University-Texarkana Associate Professor of English was recently awarded the Civilian Archivists Award from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Washington DC. The award was given to Dr. Cantrel because of her inclusion of the Citizen Archivist program as a service-learning project in her Advanced English Literature course.
“We are grateful to you for continuing to promote the importance and relevance of archives, increasing levels of engagement with the records of the National Archives, and encouraging students use of records and resources at the National Archives throughout their studies,” John Hokenson, National Archives Executive Secretariat Specialist told Dr. Cantrell.
The Citizen Archivist program uses volunteers to transcribe and tag historic documents, letters, memos, and reports, many written in cursive, dating back to the Revolutionary War. The process of transcribing and tagging the content of these documents makes them searchable online and increases accessibility to them.
The documents that the Advanced Literature students have worked on include collections from the NARA, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the Smithsonian. One of their projects includes transcribing the Smithsonian’s large collection of documents from turn of the century (20th) female astronomers.
Senior Jayce Braswell recently took on an archiving project involving revolutionary-war era Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application files from Connecticut. In this instance the person was securing a land bounty document, which was typically given to members of the military in exchange for their service. Jayce, who plans to pursue a career as an educator and writer, explained that the project has had an impact on him that will carry forward into his classroom later. “I’ve thought a lot about my upcoming teaching career and how it is my responsibility to ensure students know the power that the written word holds,” he said. “These documents are foundational to understanding where our nation stands today and the history behind it.”
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