Picturing Children’s Stories is a citizen science project where you help explore how children’s book illustrations have changed over the last 200 years. By looking closely at pictures from classic and historical kids’ books, you’ll help researchers understand what stories looked like in different eras—and what those images say about childhood, imagination, and culture.
As a volunteer, you’ll examine illustrations and answer simple questions about what you see: Who’s in the picture? What’s happening? What emotions does it show? You might also help write short descriptions of images, which can be used to make books more accessible for visually impaired readers.
Why contribute? Your work helps scholars study art, history, and storytelling in ways that wouldn’t be possible without many people pitching in. The data you help create also supports responsible academic research using AI—focused on understanding stories, not replacing human creativity. Plus, you’ll get to explore fascinating illustrations from old children’s books and see how visual storytelling has evolved over time.
If you like art, history, books, or just noticing details others might miss, this is a fun way to make a real contribution to research while discovering a rich part of our cultural heritage.
