Making handwritten archives documents accessible to public with a generic system of document image analysis

We present annotations needed for handwritten archive document retrieval by content. We propose two complementary ways of producing those annotations: automatically by using document image analysis and collectively by using Internet and a manual input by users. A platform for managing those annotations is presented as well as examples of automatic annotations on civil status registers, military forms (tested on 60000 pages) and naturalization decrees, using a generic document recognition method. Examples of collective annotations built on automatic annotations are also given. This platform will be officially open to public on Internet and inside the new building of the Archives departementales des Yvelines in December 2003. 1200000 images of civil status registers will be available for collective annotation as well as 35000 pages of military forms with automatic annotation of handwritten names.