Revolutionizing History: From Textbook to Transcription in New England’s Hidden Histories

The community-building New England’s Hidden Histories (NEHH) transcription project has drawn the participation of diverse segments of the population from professors to public school teachers, and from scholars to genealogists.

Participants in the hands-on process of transcribing have shared the excitement of discovering previously unknown facts: women in the early Republic who contested church practice, congregations vehemently challenging slave-owning pastors, men and women of color who left first-hand accounts of their lives, daily details preserved in letters and diaries, and many more. In schools, transcribing primary sources has re-inspired pedagogy and revolutionized how students learn history.

In this talk, Helen Gelinas, NEHH Director of Transcription, will explore the process the NEHH project uses to make history accessible to all through transcription.

The Congregational Library & Archives is commemorating the 20th anniversary of the New England’s Hidden Histories (NEHH) project with this virtual event series and the digital exhibition NEHH@20: Re-Examining Stories from New England Communities. Find out more on our NEHH@20 webpage.

Email any questions to programs@14beacon.org.

SPEAKER BIO

Helen Gelinas has been the Director of Transcription for New England’s Hidden Histories for 13 years, instructing and guiding volunteer transcribers and editing their work for online publication at the Congregational Library & Archives. She transcribed and assisted in annotating three books of Cotton Mather’s Biblia Americana, Vol. 5, while a graduate student at the University of Tübingen. She is a PhD candidate in American Studies at the University of Heidelberg, working on her dissertation entitled, “The Spirit and the Bride: Female Parity, Prophecy, and the Power of the Pen in the Works of Cotton Mather.”