Participate
The BillionGraves Project brings people together by making genealogy records available to the public.
Volunteers use smartphones to take GPS-tagged pictures of headstones in cemeteries, which are then uploaded to the Internet and transcribed for easy searching. The information on the headstones is then made available to the public.
BillionGraves software is free, easy to use, and available for desktop computers and smartphones.
Get Started with our Quick Reference Guides:
- Need help organizing and motivating your team? Hand out our Team Flyer to friends and family to get them involved with your BillionGraves team.
- Our Information Packet gives a brief overview of what the BillionGraves Project is all about.
- Our Quick Reference explains how to gather images with your smartphone and how to search for records and headstone images on the BillionGraves database.
- Are you considering an Eagle Scout Project or other service opportunity? Our Eagle Scout Information Packet will help get you started on the right track.
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| Information Packet | Quick Reference Card | Eagle Scout Packet |
Further Training Resources:
- View our detailed User Guide
- View the BillionGraves FAQ
- View the BillionGraves Official Blog
- Learn about starting a BillionGraves team and current team contests
Tips & Tricks for Taking Pictures
Here are a few tips to make your photos easier to transcribe and use:
- Avoid your shadow falling on any part of the headstone. This may mean you need to take the photo upside down, depending on where the sun is. Don’t worry—you can flip the photo right side up here on BillionGraves.com.
- Make sure nothing is covering the headstone information (names, dates, etc.). Sometimes grass clippings, fallen leaves, or dirt can obscure the headstone. Brush it off before taking a picture.
- Include all the headstone’s important information in the photo— even if the words seem too small. You may not be able to read the words on the iPhone screen, but on the website, with a larger screen and better lighting, it will work wonderfully.
- Avoid the sun in if you can. You get the best quality photos at dawn and dusk, or when it’s overcast. You can’t always control the weather, or your schedule, but if you have a choice, try to avoid the brighter parts of the day.
Transcribe Grave Images
Collecting photos achieves a lot towards our goal, but the images are useless if we don’t attach names and dates to them so they can be easily searched. Transcribing the information from the images completes the process.Transcribing is easy. Learn how.
Begin by navigating to our Transcription page.
An image will load automatically that is ready to be transcribed.
- First name
- Last name
- Birth date
- Death date
- Any other information the headstone provides
For headstones that have multiple individuals’ information (for example, a married couple buried together), transcribe for each individual. Click the "add individual" button to add the space you’ll need to input the second or third person’s information.
When you’re finished transcribing a headstone, click the image. If there are still more images in the batch, another will load.
Thousands of images are waiting. Transcribe now.