How the German Archives for Diaries preserve personal history for future generations

The German Archives for Diaries (Deutsches Tagebucharchiv, DTA) in Emmendingen has one core mission: Collecting and archiving autobiographical records and making them accessible for academic and media purposes. The diaries, letters, and memoirs in their holdings offer an unfiltered glimpse into the everyday lives, private thoughts, and subjective experiences of ‘ordinary people’, providing a counter-narrative to official state histories. The archive's work ensures that these individual perspectives are preserved and made accessible for scholars, who are increasingly using these kinds of sources in their research.

One of the people responsible for this work is permanent staff member Markus Schaber. With an academic background in history and interdisciplinary anthropology, he is well placed to turn these valuable handwritten sources into digitally accessible resources. We spoke with him about the institution's work and its ambitious project to digitise and transcribe its holdings with Transkribus.

The German Archives for Diaries holds not just diaries, but also letters, memoirs, and other sources of personal history. © Markus Schaber

The unique value of diaries

For many years, personal diaries have not been valued as scientific sources. But this perception is changing for the better. While official documents such as state records provide the facts and details about historical events, diaries provide the social and emotional context. "What I find fascinating about diaries is that they allow people to create their own reality, but one that is always shaped by the moment,” Markus explained. “Diaries allow us to gain an individual and subjective perspective on a person's history [and] cover many areas that conventional archive material, such as that from state archives, does not cover." 

With the increasing interest in using diaries for scientific research comes a need to make them accessible in a digital format. One key part of this process is transcribing the documents and offering fulltext search. But transcription brings other benefits too. "Documents that have been scanned are transcribed, read and indexed more frequently. This also means that researchers are more likely to refer to these diaries."


Transkribus uses AI to turn handwritten historical sources into digital text. © Markus Schaber

Transcribing an archive

The scale of the collection at the German Archives for Diaries is staggering. The archive contains approximately 27,000 diaries by over 5,500 authors, covering many different scripts and a wide variety of periods. And as the variation in handwriting styles grows, the number of people able to transcribe them is decreasing. "[Handwritten text recognition] helps to cope with the workload, because human work is not able to cover the workload in a reasonable period of time."

The idea to try using Transkribus as an alternative came from one of the archive’s scientific advisors. “Prof. Dr. Achim Rabus from the University of Freiburg, suggested we use Transkribus," Markus recalls. "In January 2024, two members of his department gave us a short workshop. I then familiarised myself more thoroughly with Transkribus." In addition, Markus applied for a Transkribus scholarship, giving the archive free credits in order to realise their digitisation project. “I stumbled across the relevant page by chance and took the initiative. The scholarship enables us to transcribe and make accessible enormous amounts of data."

The power of volunteers

However, unlike many other Transkribus projects, the work would be carried out not by paid employees, but by a dedicated team of volunteers. "The German Archives for Diaries is a citizen science project," Markus stated plainly. "The entire structure of the archive is based on volunteer work, [from] the board of directors to the scanner. Without volunteers, nothing works for us."

Managing a large team of volunteers requires good organisation, particularly as most of the volunteer transcribers are not located in Emmendingen. Therefore, Markus holds regular Zoom meetings with the transcribers, to keep the group engaged with the project. “Our ‘Transkribus transcribers’ are mainly spread across Germany. Regular meetings mean that questions can be discussed face-to-face, albeit digitally,” Markus explained. "Of course, these meetings also serve to involve volunteers and help them identify with the archival work. We [...] explain how the transcriptions will be further processed, for example in the context of a reading or a public research project."

Regular Zoom meetings allow the volunteers to get to know each other and stay engaged with the project. © Markus Schaber

Making the transcriptions accessible

The transcriptions created with Transkribus are not meant for public websites. Instead, their purpose is to access the collection for research, giving scholars access to the documents, no matter where they live. "The transcriptions are not published," Markus clarified. "However, they are of course available for researchers to view and use if they need them for their work."

Another important benefit is that the transcriptions enable the archive to index the sources more efficiently. "[The transcribed documents] are subsequently read and indexed. Researchers can use these keywords to find [the documents they need] in the database. Transcriptions are also very valuable for our own research. On the one hand, we also use the keyword search, and on the other hand, we have the option of full-text search.”

A successful citizen science project

When asked what advice he would give to other institutions considering a similar citizen science transcription project, Markus's response was one of wholehearted encouragement. "Do it!" he urged. "Citizen science is a proven concept and enriches everyone involved." At the same time, he offers a practical and clear-eyed perspective on what is required to make such a project successful: "Of course, the work and supervision involved in Transkribus is very time-consuming and requires not only technical knowledge but also social skills, when dealing with volunteers. [But] personally, I enjoy it."

The project at the German Archives for Diaries demonstrates what can be achieved when a dedicated community is empowered with the right tools. Markus concludes with a word of gratitude for the support that has helped make this large-scale indexing possible: "On behalf of DTA, I would like to express my gratitude for the [scholarship]. I believe that Transkribus makes a valuable contribution to the interdisciplinary and international sharing of knowledge."