Dr. Aaron Taylor of Native Bound Unbound kindly took the time to answer questions and discuss their projects and experience using the platform with Sara Brumfield of FromThePage.
Aaron Taylor is the deputy director of Native Bound Unbound.
First, tell us about your documents.
Native Bound Unbound is gathering a wide variety of documents, all connected by the common theme of indigenous slavery. At this stage in the project, the documents are in Spanish and English; however, we eventually plan to include documents in French, Dutch, and Portuguese, and cover the early 16th century through the late 19th century. They include legal and narrative documents, sacramental records, last wills and testaments, and much more.
What are your goals for the projects?
Our goal is to transcribe and translate any and all documents connected to indigenous slavery in the Americas with the goal of tracing the arc of the individual lives of the enslaved. These records will be amplified on an open-source website we are planning to release in 2024. After transcription on FromThePage, the documents are sent for translation and incorporation to our Content Management System which will allow us to associate documents between people, places, stories, and events. Descendant communities will also form an important aspect of our project as we incorporate their memories and perspectives on this important topic.
How are you recruiting or finding volunteers/collaborators?
We have used social media and periodically post calls for volunteers to join us. We have about five dedicated volunteers but given the scope of the project, we are always looking for more!
Can you share your experience using FromThePage?
The platform has been an excellent platform and allows us to efficiently transcribe, review, and download the transcriptions for further processing. I can also add that Ben and Sara have been responsive to any technical issues that arise as well as adding specific features, such as the download function, that we needed for our project.
What advice would you give to other institutions thinking about running a similar project?
FromThePage has been a vital part of NBU's development, and we plan to continue using it in the future. It is easy for volunteers to use and simplifies and centralizes the review process for quality control. The ability to import IIIF Manifests and export the transcriptions is also a vital part of our process.
Anything else you'd like to tell us?
As we have developed foundational processes for Native Bound Unbound, including that of transcription, FromThePage has become an essential tool and one we hope will allow us to continue to build upon by engaging a volunteer corps who are also committed to the project of expanding the view of who the enslaved were.
