[BCMA] Handwritten Text Recognition recommendations?

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv]

Hello Matthew,

I've worked with Transkribus before (I first used it a few years ago to transcribe a very large journal from 1790). I would definitely take a look at it and see if it will work for your needs.

Guestbooks can be difficult because there are so many different hands represented in the book. Test a few pages and see if it will work. It will do most of the work for you but you will still need someone to review and edit the transcripts. From it you can create a PDF of the scanned document with searchable text as well as other formats.

https://www.transkribus.org/
[https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/readcoop.cis.public-assets.prod/meta-img.jpg]<https://www.transkribus.org/>
Transkribus - Unlocking the past with AI<https://www.transkribus.org/>
www.transkribus.org


Sincerely,

Chelsea Brown (She/Her)

Curator

Kilby Historic Site

Direct Line: (604) 491-9059
________________________________
From: Listserv <listserv-bounces at lists.museum.bc.ca> on behalf of Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv <listserv at lists.museum.bc.ca>
Sent: 17 September 2024 15:30
To: listserv at lists.museum.bc.ca <listserv at lists.museum.bc.ca>
Subject: [BCMA] Handwritten Text Recognition recommendations?

Hello museum friends!

Hope you are doing fantastic, and that you survived the summer busyness ☀️

We are working with the Tetrahedron Outdoor Club on the digitization of a large collection of mountain cabin guestbooks from Tetrahedron Park. These guest books contain handwritten messages from people who have stayed at each cabin, touching on weather conditions, funny anecdotes, and messages to future cabin guests.

Has anyone worked with handwritten text recognition (HTR) scanning software in the digitization of archival documents? In an ideal world, we would love to digitize these guestbooks and allow users to search for familiar names in the scanned documents, but HTR technology is new to us.

Anyone have any tips or recommendations on software/hardware to explore?

Thanks!


Matthew Lovegrove (he/him) | Curator/Manager
Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives
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