By the People

The Library of Congress is giving the public the opportunity to help document American history, including a beautiful chapter of Easton’s past.

By the People is the Library of Congress’s crowdsourcing initiative that asks people to help transcribe items in the library’s digital collections to improve search, access, and discovery. Everyone is welcome to participate and detailed instructions are provided on the library’s website. You can choose to simply transcribe documents or, if you sign up for an account, you can review and tag transcribed pages.

By the People’s resources are divided into a variety of collections, referred to as “campaigns.” They include; Clara Barton: "Angel of the Battlefield", Ordinary Lives in George Washington’s Papers, Mary Church Terrell: Advocate for African Americans and Women, Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words, and the recently added By Design: Frederick Law Olmsted & Associates.

Olmsted, the father of American Landscape Architecture, designer of Central Park, and a conservation activist, might be best known locally for his design of Boston’s Emerald Necklace, but he has left his mark on the local landscape as well.

Take a trip into North Easton center and you will see The Rockery, a memorial to locals who perished in the Civil War. Nearby are more examples of Olmsted’s work – the landscaping surrounding the historic Ames Free Library and Oakes Ames Memorial Hall, both buildings designed by famed architect and Olmsted collaborator H.H. Richardson.

As of now, only about 800 of the close to 12,000 pages in Olmsted’s digital collection have been transcribed. Who knows what insights into Olmsted’s local presence those pages can provide?

If you would like to learn more about Olmsted and his connection to Easton, check out the following items in our collection.

 

 

For You