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Contact: Chris Beagan, 617-876-4491 x12
Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site Archivist Kate Hanson Plass has been named the winner of the 2021 National Appleman-Judd-Lewis Award for Cultural Resource Specialist.
The Director’s Appleman-Judd-Lewis Awards recognize expertise and outstanding contributions to cultural resource stewardship and management by employees of the National Park Service. Offered annually, the three awards—one for a park superintendent, one for a facility maintenance specialist, and one for a cultural resource specialist—were created to encourage creativity in cultural resource stewardship, management practices and projects, particularly those that may serve as examples or models for programs across the National Park Service.
Hanson Plass is recognized for her exceptional contributions to cultural resource stewardship at Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site in 2021. Working closely with the site’s Volunteers-in-Parks Program coordinators Anna Christie and Beth Wasson, Hanson Plass developed the Virtual Transcriber Program, working with volunteers from across the country to transcribe historic documents, puzzling out 19th century handwriting.
“Kate’s work with dedicated volunteers and other staff at the site demonstrate what’s possible with teamwork,” said Acting Superintendent Chris Beagan. “Kate’s creativity – in especially challenging times – increased the number of fully transcribed documents in the site’s archives, safeguarded archival collections against consumptive use, and engaged volunteers in deeply meaningful ways.”
As the COVID pandemic progressed, Hanson Plass recruited new, remote volunteers and significantly broadened the demographics of the volunteer cohort, from largely retired volunteers to volunteers representing a fuller spectrum of life, including college students, families with young kids, working professionals, and retirees.
To ensure high-quality transcriptions, Hanson Plass worked closely with individual volunteers sending drafts, notes, and questions back and forth by email. As interest in the program grew, she created a virtual forum that enabled her to increase the number of historic documents transcribed, engage more volunteers, and introduce peer-to-peer support to review volunteers’ work.
“Volunteers put in significant effort for this project,” said Hanson Plass. “It’s been particularly rewarding to share their enthusiasm and hear reports on the passages that resonate with them – and to be able to share that history more broadly through searchable transcriptions.”
The Virtual Transcriber Program was featured in the 2021 NPS Citizen Science Congressional Report as a best practice that demonstrated exceptional adaptability during the COVID pandemic. Hanson Plass’s work has served as a model for others within the National Park Service and beyond. She will be formally recognized at an awards ceremony in Washington, DC in late October.
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Longfellow Digital Archive PortalLast updated: August 8, 2022