The State Archives of the Canton of St.Gallen hold a wealth of historical material documenting the cultural, political, and administrative history of this Swiss region. Among its significant collections are the council meeting minutes, which record decisions made by the St.Gallen government since its founding in 1803. These documents, a mix of handwritten and typewritten pages, are an invaluable resource for researchers, historians, and local citizens alike.
For many years, accessing these materials was limited to those who could visit the archive in person. This often meant navigating through volumes of fragile, handwritten records, which required both time and expertise to interpret. Recognising the need to make these documents more accessible and easier to use, the State Archives launched a digitisation project using Transkribus Sites, a tool designed for transcribing and publishing historical texts online.
We spoke to Remo Cadalbert, the digitisation project manager at the archives, to learn more about the process of bringing this important historical resource online.
The State Archives of the Canton of St.Gallen is home to thousands of pages of archival material. Image: Staatsarchiv St.Gallen
Selecting the documents for publishing
The State Archives house many collections, but the council meeting minutes were a clear choice for this project. "The council meeting minutes of the Canton of St.Gallen are among the most important holdings of the State Archives," Remo explained. "They document the activities of the St.Gallen government since the canton was founded in 1803 and serve as a central source for cantonal history."
The minutes provide an official record of decisions and discussions during more than a century of government activity. From legislative actions to administrative changes, the collection offers a consistent resource for understanding local governance and its evolution over time. Making this information widely available was a key goal of the project, as the demand for access to these records extends beyond academics to genealogists and residents interested in their heritage.
However, digitising the minutes posed a significant challenge due to their size and format. The collection consists of 417 books and nearly 200,000 pages, with a mix of handwritten and typewritten texts. This required an automatic text recognition tool capable of handling not only large volumes but also the complexity of historical handwriting.
The government of St.Gallen has been meeting regularly since the canton was founded in 1803. Image: Staatsarchiv St.Gallen
Choosing the right tools
The archive chose Transkribus, a platform specialising in handwriting recognition and enrichment. While standard optical character recognition (OCR) systems are designed for printed text, Transkribus can process handwritten or mixed documents, making it better suited for historical materials.
"Transkribus is by far the most efficient way of transcribing the manuscripts and making them available together with the originals," Remo said. The platform relies on artificial intelligence (AI) and neural networks to recognise handwriting styles. By training the system on samples from the council minutes, the team could improve its accuracy over time.
Despite its strengths, Transkribus was not without limitations. Many of the pages had been digitised from older microfilm scans, which were not always clear or detailed. Additionally, the handwritten sections varied in style and legibility, which occasionally caused errors in the handwritten text recognition. These inaccuracies required manual correction, adding an extra step to the process.
For Remo, however, the benefits of using a text recognition platform still outweighs the disadvantages. "For the considerable saving in resources and time, one also accepts a certain character error rate (CER)," he noted.
Transkribus Sites allows users to view the original document and the digital transcription side by side. Image: Staatsarchiv St.Gallen
Making the collection accessible with Transkribus Sites
After the transcription process was completed, the digital files were uploaded to Transkribus Sites, a tool for publishing historical materials online. This allowed the State Archives to create an organised and searchable collection of the council minutes, making them accessible to a much wider audience and eliminating many of the barriers associated with accessing historical documents, such as the need to travel or the ability to read old handwriting.
"The council minutes are now available around the clock, regardless of location," Remo said. This practical change has already benefited researchers and casual users alike. People who once needed to visit the archive in person can now work with the documents remotely, and even those unfamiliar with old scripts can make use of the transcriptions.
You can view the St.Gallen Transkribus Site here.
A model for future projects
The success of the St.Gallen project has positioned Transkribus Sites as a model for other archives looking to digitise their collections. "Transkribus Sites is a tried and tested solution for online publishing and editing," Remo said. "Archives that have large manuscript collections and want to make them accessible to a wide audience should use [it]."
In addition to enabling online access, the platform’s collaborative features open up further possibilities for public engagement. For example, archives could invite volunteers to participate in reviewing and correcting transcriptions, combining citizen science with digital humanities. "Participants who are interested in old handwriting can deepen their knowledge [...] while helping to improve the accuracy of the transcriptions," Remo explained. This approach not only increases the accuracy of the digital collection but also fosters a stronger connection between the public and historical documents, encouraging people to engage with history in new and practical ways.
Remo sees potential in using Transkribus for citizen science initiatives at the archive. Image: Staatsarchiv St.Gallen
Looking ahead
The St.Gallen project demonstrates how handwriting recognition technology and online publishing tools are changing the way archives operate. In addition to preserving fragile documents, these tools create new ways for both researchers and the general public to interact with history.
“The progress Transkribus has made in terms of the quality of text recognition using AI in recent years is remarkable—and the system is constantly being improved. I can only recommend it,” Remo said.
With the council minutes now accessible online, the State Archives of St.Gallen have set a high standard for digital access to historical materials. However, with vast amounts of archival material still to be digitised, the work is far from over.
"We hope to be able to use Transkribus in the future to digitise more handwritten documents," Remo explained. "There is certainly no shortage of archival material!"
Thank you, Remo, for sharing your insights into this project.
Interested in using Transkribus at your archive?
Transkribus has been used in archives around the world to realise projects both big and small. If you are interested in using Transkribus at your archive, then set up a consultation call with our advisors and find out how Transkribus can benefit your archival work.
The National Archives of the Netherlands used Transkribus to transcribe over 3 million pages of documents. Find out more in this Success Story with digitisation project manager, Liesbeth Keijser.
