“Civil War Bluejackets: Race, Class and Ethnicity in the United States Navy, 1861-1865” is an AHRC funded project being carried out by historians at Northumbria University in partnership with information scientists at the University of Sheffield and the University of Koblenz-Landau. It centres on the exploration of U.S. Navy Muster Rolls from the American Civil War, preserved in the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The project is engaged transcribing these recently digitised rolls to create a powerful new database and research tool for the study of c. 118,000 wartime sailors, many of whom were drawn from among the poorest sections of American society.

If you are interested in volunteering for the transcription-phase of the project you can do so via our Zooniverse Platform here. For regular updates you can find the Civil War Bluejackets dedicated website here.