Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation Expands Internship Program with Sorenson Legacy Foundation Grant
The grant makes it possible to increase the involvement of students and provide an experiential opportunity to strengthen career skills, increase faith, and uplift others.
SEATTLE, Oct. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization formed to digitally transcribe and publish Wilford Woodruff's documents from 1833 to 1898, today announced they have received a major grant from the Sorenson Legacy Foundation to support 90 new internships for college and high school students. For the next three years, the funds will expand the work of the Wilford Woodruff Papers project to engage ten qualified interns each semester. Students pursuing studies in editing, publishing, history, humanities, women's studies, family history, and data science departments at any college or university are encouraged to apply. The foundation is accepting senior project proposals as well.
"We are thrilled to be awarded this grant from the Sorenson Legacy Foundation," said Jennifer Mackley, Executive Director of the Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation. "The grant will make it possible for us to engage more students in a variety of ways as we expand the project. The creativity and enthusiasm of our current high school and college interns has accelerated our publishing process. We look forward to what the Sorenson interns will help us accomplish."
The grant will make it possible to expand and accelerate the transcription process.
"The project is already ahead of schedule because we have been able to increase the pace of transcription through crowdsourcing. We now have 115 dedicated individuals working to transcribe, verify, and hyperlink the 1,500 documents we have located and digitized. The Sorenson Legacy Foundation grant enables us to hire additional student interns as mentors and trainers to the ever growing team of volunteers," Mackley said.
In less than one year the Wilford Woodruff Papers Project has completed transcribing and hyperlinking the first 20 years of Wilford Woodruff's journals (1833-1853) and nine of his 11 autobiographies. Additionally, they have identified 4,602 people with whom he interacted and completed research to publish biographical sketches for many of them to aid readers in their contextual study of Wilford Woodruff's writings.
"The Sorenson Legacy Foundation is providing financial support for student interns to work on transcribing and researching Wilford Woodruff's writings with the hope that the experience will strengthen their skills and faith as well as bring uplifting messages to others," said Lisa Meiling, Executive Director of the Sorenson Legacy Foundation.
Strengthening the rising generation by engaging them in learning furthers the work of both foundations.
"We are very grateful for this gift that will allow us to not only provide educational opportunities but also help engage the rising generation in learning the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in context and increase understanding of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ," said Mackley.
Click here for more information about the student internship program at the Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation: https://wilfordwoodruffpapers.org/volunteer
About the Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation
The Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and is a 501(c)(3) organization founded in January 2020 for the purpose of publishing Wilford Woodruff's documents on the open-access website wilfordwoodruffpapers.org. The foundation is not affiliated with nor sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but seeks to be in harmony with the Church and support its mission. The foundation is working in cooperation with the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. http://www.wilfordwoodruffpapers.org
Wilford Woodruff, (March 1, 1807 - September 2, 1898) was an American religious leader who served as the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1889 until his death.
About the Sorenson Legacy Foundation
The Sorenson Legacy Foundation based in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a nonprofit corporation established by the James LeVoy Sorenson family for the exclusive purpose of promoting charitable, religious, educational, literary and scientific endeavors. The foundation is qualified under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. http://www.sorensonlegacyfoundation.org
MEDIA CONTACT:
Diane Lefrandt Nelson
[email protected]
801.357.9159
Media Contact
Diane Lefrandt Nelson, Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation, +1 (801) 357-9159, [email protected]
SOURCE Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation
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