If you're interested in our program, read on below to find out more about projects worked on by volunteers. The program operates on weekdays and prospective volunteers need basic computer skills.

Public Record Office Victoria volunteers help us preserve our state’s records by:

• removing old packing materials and processing records into new boxes, bags or sleeves
• aiding discovery of records by creating indexes or searchable data
• adding value to records through digitising or even transcribing the text of the records themselves.

2025 volunteer projects

The volunteer activities undertaken in 2025 included completed and ongoing projects to make records more accessible to researchers. Most projects were centered around a specific series (VPRS) of the collection. Some projects were undertaken onsite at the Victorian Archives Centre, while others were completed online from home.

• VPRS 4527 – digitising 80 volumes of Ward Registers onsite and transcribing searchable data.
• VPRS 626 – listing searchable data for Land Selection files created by the Occupation Branch of the Department of Crown Lands and Survey after 1874.
• VPRS 625 – listing searchable data for Land Selection files created by the Occupation Branch of the Department of Crown Lands and Survey before 1874.
• VPRS 4066 – listing and tidying Inward Correspondence to the Governor from 1854-1857.
• VPRS 8363 – copying negatives and using previously digitised contact prints from the Melbourne Harbour Trust onsite, then using these to test a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) image description tool.
• VPRS 1186 – digitising the Register of Inward Correspondence to the Chief Secretary’s Department.
• VPRS 1411 - digitising the Index of Inward Correspondence to the Chief Secretary’s Department.
• VPRS 947 – checking a portion of the physical Overseas Passenger Lists against our online listing to ensure everything matches up.
• VPRS 602 – listing Gold Mining Lease files.
• VPRS 283 – indexing Divorce Case files. 

As well as:

• digitising several, ad hoc smaller series of registers and indexes
• helping to road test the machine learning software Transkribus for its viability for PROV to use as a transcription tool
• indexing various series for the Koorie Index of Names.