To develop automatic transcription of historical documents, we need handwritten text samples from as many authors as possible, so we kindly ask for your help. Please, download a random template below, print it, and rewrite the included text by hand on the same page.
Each page contains different text, and by repeated downloading you get different unique pages. Please do not rewrite one page several times. You can rewrite several pages, but it would help us the most to have handwritten text samples of as many different writers as possible. Keep line spacing and any spelling mistakes. At the bottom of this page you'll find an example of a completed page.
Please scan the completed pages using a desk scanner and upload them by the form below or send it to: ihradis@fit.vutbr.cz with subject "Brno HWR dataset". Alternatively, send the completed pages to: Michal Hradiš, Faculty of Information Technology, BUT, Božetěchova 1/2, 612 00 Brno. By sending us the filled pages you agree that your handwriting may be anonymously distributed and used for any purpose without any restrictions.
Please, select a file.
Filled page example
We are collecting a large database of anonymous examples of handwriting in order to develop automatic transcription of Czech historical documents. We need examples by as many authors as possible to capture the great variability of handwriting styles. Whether you rewrite by hand one page or ten and donate them to our cause, you will significantly improve how content of historical documents can be indexed and searched. Our goal is to enable full-text searching for example in chronicles, parish registers, land books, and in historical correspondence.