2.18 Conclusion

This module provided you with an overview of some basic skills, approaches, and techniques you can draw on as you begin to transcribe historical documents.

There is a lot more here you can learn and this area of historical research is changing rapidly.

Voice-to-text programs improve with each passing day, reducing the need for manual transcriptions of oral interviews. The same is true for recent developments in OCRs ability to read handwriting Links to an external site..

For the foreseeable future though, being able to read and transcribe historical handwriting is a core instrument in your toolbox as a historian.