Mohonk Preserve Digital Archive Volunteer

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Volunteer to help Mohonk Preserve bring its extensive archive collection into the digital age. This is a digital volunteer opportunity that you can do from the comfort of your own home.

Learn more about how you can get involved in this exciting digital volunteer project: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/mohonkpreservedsrc/a-century-of-natural-history-observations For over a century, the team at Mohonk Preserve has been diligently collecting data on all aspects of the natural life in the Shawangunk Mountains region. Everything from weather patterns to the phenology of local species is carefully monitored and catalogued each year, creating a treasure trove of data for anyone who wants to know more about the phenology of the "Gunks." Today we use technology to store and track our data, but this was not always the case. Daniel Smiley, the creator of this project, originally would walk the Shawangunk Ridge lands with notecards in hand, writing down whatever he saw. Over the course of his lifetime, he and other researchers with whom he worked created over 10,000 notecards. These notecards are rich with detailed information that is useful in a multitude of research projects in areas like ecology, land-use change, animal migration, and species’ range changes. Rather than keeping this important research tool tucked away in file cabinets, we want to make these cards digitally available to scientists, students and all who want to use them. Through a generous grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Museums for America program, we’ve been able to establish a project protocol and create digital images of over 9,000 Dan’s note cards. Now we’re asking you for help making this information fully searchable by looking at individual cards and transcribing the information on them. Thank you for helping us share and expand access to this remarkable natural history resource!