The New York Times has created a database / digital image project in which they plan to use tens of thousands of volunteers to find, tag and transcribe ads from historic newspapers.
I signed up for the project and immediately began finding what the system thought were most likely ads, and marking them as to whether they really were – and if so, were they single or multiple ads that were shown. Later I switched to Tagging. In that mode I would look at an ad, write in the company name and using a drop-down menu, I’d check what type of product the ad was for (such as: books and publishing, clothing, etc.).
A third choice which I haven’t done yet is to Transcribe the Advertisement.
The following is from their website.
The New York Times archives are full of advertisements that give glimpses into daily life and cultural history. Help us digitize our historic ads by answering simple questions. You’ll be creating a unique resource for historians, advertisers and the public — and leaving your mark on history.
Get started with our collection of ads from the 1960s (additional decades will be opened later)!
Read about it at the New York Times website.
Thanks to the National Genealogical Society for the heads-up.
