"Right now there are seven new volunteers. Each was given a sample handwritten document to try. Everyone did well with the samples. Volunteers then received a small batch of 10 documents provided. There are no schedules or deadlines, so everyone works at their own pace. Some volunteers have prior experience and for others this is something new to explore.

"Original materials requiring transcription range from a few very hard to read manuscripts and foreign language texts (mainly French) in archaic syntax, to typed letters that fail OCR. The originals have been edited by me from existing digital, photo and photocopy files. I've selected materials for content, interest and to illustrate economic and political conditions affecting coinage and the Mint Bureau's facilities. There is much greater emphasis on mints than assay offices, with the exception of the New York Assay Office.

"With nearly all Mint archive documents being scattered throughout millions of pages, all volunteers will likely receive a mixture of interesting and dull subjects."