TDCC-SSH Project

FORTES

Framework for Open Research on Trade and Economic Sources

About the Project

FORTES tackles a key challenge in the humanities and social sciences: automatically extracting structured data from complex, handwritten archival tables like ledgers and account books.

This open-source project will build reusable digital methods to help researchers and heritage institutions make historical data more accessible and usable. Grounded in open standards (like IIIF, Web Annotations, and RDF), our methods will be tested across diverse collections.

FORTES is a collaborative effort, offering training, co-creation workshops, and practical guides to support others. All results will be FAIR-compliant and connect with existing infrastructures, making historical data easier to analyze, share, and reuse.

TDCC-SSH IIIF W3C Web Annotations RDF FAIR Principles Open Source

Key Pillars

Structured Table Extraction

Reusable digital methods to recognize layouts, rows, columns, and handwritten entries in complex archival ledgers and account books.

Open Standards

Grounded in IIIF, Web Annotations, and RDF, and tested across diverse collections to ensure interoperability.

Training & Co-Creation

Supporting researchers and heritage institutions through hands-on training, co-creation workshops, and practical guides.

FAIR & Connected

All results comply with FAIR principles and connect with existing research and heritage infrastructures.

Project Members

Sabine Go

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Leon van Wissen

University of Amsterdam

Gerhard de Kok

Huygens Institute

Lodewijk Petram