Volunteer Program

Probate Record Volunteer
The Maryland State Archives is participating in a joint project with the Comptroller of the Treasury, the Registers of Wills, and FamilySearch to have the state's probate records from 1634 to 1940 indexed, scanned, and made available online. Volunteers can perform one or both of the following jobs:

Processing

• Removing staples and paperclips
• Unfolding and flattening documents
• Creating cover sheets for each record with identifying information found by reading the documents
• Labeling folders

Indexing
• Confirming the information on cover sheets by reading the documents
• Typing information from the cover sheet into a spreadsheet

Description: The Maryland State Archives is seeking volunteers to help conduct research in court record collections. Professional archivists will train volunteers to assist in searching for case numbers and locating case files using both hard copy and online court record indexes. This is a great opportunity to learn how to use our resources, particularly our more modern court record collections. Volunteer work must be completed on site in Annapolis. Supervisory staff will offer flexible scheduling for all those who wish to assist. The building is open Monday-Friday, 8:30am-4:30pm. We ask that the volunteer make themselves available at least one day a week, for a minimum two hour shift (four is preferred). We are willing to work directly with the candidate to accommodate individual schedules. Please contact us!

The Imaging Services Department's main function is to responsibly digitize and make accessible images that are of use and value to our researchers. Volunteers are needed for assistance with digital imaging projects ranging from original records to Microfilm. This is not only a great opportunity to help the Maryland State Archives but to also learn proper records handling and archival quality scanning techniques.

Training will be provided covering several scanners and quality control techniques.

What our Volunteers do - There are several stages to the digitization process from prepping originals to be scanned to adding descriptive metadata to images. Several long term projects need assistance with these important steps before making images accessible to the public. Below is a description of main types of work:

• Digitization- Image acquisition spanning different collections using different methods of capture. Operators will learn digitization to archival standards
• Post Scan Processing- This may include cropping of images, uploading of images to our archival repository and/or OCR/PDF creation
• Image Quality Control- Review of images to assure quality. Metadata review and or adding descriptive Metadata to images

Availability - The Imaging Services Department can accommodate as many or as few hours as you would like to volunteer. We are very flexible with scheduling. We have volunteer hours available Monday through Friday between 8:30 and 5:00.

Description:
Our Reference Services staff is looking for assistance in our Search Room from April through October, when we traditionally have our highest numbers of visitors. Reference volunteers assist patrons with genealogical questions and computer questions, teach users how to research records available online and in person, and oversee proper handling of paper records. Volunteers receive training and support from our Reference archivists. Interested volunteers should be available one day per week, Tuesdays OR Thursdays, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., April through October.

The Maryland State Archives is very pleased to announce that we are using the crowd-sourcing platform FromThePage to transcribe vital records, and we ask our friends, patrons, genealogists, and all those interested in making Maryland records accessible to help in this effort. This is a remote volunteer opportunity.

Projects on FromThePage rely on volunteers to transcribe displayed documents using a simple interface. For Maryland vital records this consists of a fielded form into which information such as names, dates, and certificate numbers are typed. Getting started as a volunteer is as easy as going to the Fromthepage website and clicking on the “Sign Up” navigation button. You’ll give your name and email address and create a password for the site. Then just click on “Collections” and then search for "Maryland State Archives" projects.

Our first project involves the transcription of marriage certificates for the purpose of creating searchable bride and groom indexes. Indexing either does not exist for some years or the indexes that were created as paper documents became torn and illegible before they could be scanned. These partial indexes are missing whole sections, requiring a time-consuming manual search to locate a certificate when an index entry cannot be found. The creation of complete indexes will allow patrons to search for references online and allow our staff to fulfill orders quickly.

Marriage certificates are among the most requested records here at the Maryland State Archives. These records are needed to apply for a Real ID, driver’s license, passport, Social Security and health benefits, a mortgage, and for other important life events. Women especially need these documents to prove name changes over the course of a life that might include divorce, remarriage, or death of a spouse. Transcription volunteers are helping make this process easier and, in some cases, are providing access to records that otherwise might never be found.

If you are interested in volunteering for this online transcription project please contact Liz Coelho, Director of Special Projects, at liz.coelho@maryland.gov.

Benefits for volunteers include purchasing publications and merchandise at staff discounts, receiving the newsletter email, free regular copies of scanned records from our search room computers, invitations to internal staff professional development events, and using the search room computers and reference library on Mondays when it is closed to the public. (Please note, however, that original records are not available on Monday.)

To volunteer at the Archives please download and complete the volunteer application and return it to the Archives at jen.abbott@maryland.gov or by mail to:

    Jennifer Abbott
    Maryland State Archives
    350 Rowe Blvd.
    Annapolis, MD 21401

In addition to your application, please include an email or note that indicates what opportunities listed above that you are most interested in and what your proposed schedule would be (what specific days/hours you would like to volunteer). If you cannot begin immediately, please also indicate a desired start date, for example if you are are student who is looking to volunteer during a certain semester. If you have any questions, please contact: jen.abbott@maryland.gov.

Download Volunteer Application: (PDF Format)    (Word Format)