Smithsonian Transcriptions

The Smithsonian Transcription Center engages the public in making our priceless collections more accessible. We work hand-in-hand with a community of Digital Volunteers called “volunpeers” to transcribe historical documents and collection records to facilitate research and excite learning in audiences everywhere. Participants have the chance to transcribe a diverse array of collection materials drawn from Smithsonian holdings in science, history, art, and culture. Even transcribing one line is a big help!

This is a sub-project called “MARTIN MOYNIHAN - ATLAPETES (BRUSH-FINCHES) - PANAMA, ECUADOR AND PERU, 1958, 1960-1962.” Understanding biodiversity trends and the factors that influence them requires us first to develop an intimate knowledge about the species themselves. In these field notes, Dr. Martin Moynihan (1928-1996) documents his work studying brush-finches (atlapetes) in Panama, Ecuador and Peru. Over half a century later, ornithologists are still making discoveries, such as the Antioquia Brush-finch that was identified from museum specimens collected in 1971. It was not seen alive for the next 47 years until it was rediscovered in Colombia 2018. Join in with other digital volunteers to transcribe Dr. Moynihan’s observations and make them more accessible for today’s researchers.

To learn more about Dr. Moynihan’s field books and other papers, see the Smithsonian Institution Archives collection Accession 01-092, “Martin H. Moynihan Papers, 1952-1996.”