An Integrated Approach to Transcribing Expedition Diaries with Transkribus and Generative AI

The expedition diaries of Swedish ethnographer Erland Nordenskiöld — handwritten, multilingual, and full of inconsistencies — push HTR to its limits. This talk presents an integrated workflow where generative AI accelerates preliminary transcription and Transkribus provides the infrastructure for verification and model training, creating a checks-and-balances system that keeps hallucinations in check while building a robust HTR model.