Tom Eerkens

Tom Eerkens works at Museum Plantin-Moretus, researching the vital role of women in both the household and the business of the Officina Plantiniana, as well as the understudied people working and living in the printing house. He obtained a Master’s degree in both Early Modern History and Art History at KU Leuven. Previously, he worked as an archivist at KADOC. Documentation and Research Centre on Religion, Culture and Society, and as a cataloguer of rare books for the STCV. The Bibliography of the Hand Press Book in Flanders at the support organization for Flemish library heritage, Vlaamse Erfgoedbibliotheken vzw.

Kristof Selleslach will be speaking at the Digital Collections Summt 2025 :

Opening up the archives, or how to transcribe with a little help from AI and online volunteers

The archives of the Officina Plantinia – the renowned printing office established by Christopher Plantin in the sixteenth century – represent the core for historical research and storytelling at the Museum Plantin-Moretus in Antwerp. Online access to digitisations and full-text searchable transcriptions of these early modern records gives the museum an opportunity to reach out to a worldwide audience. Artificial intelligence for text recognition and support from an online community of enthusiastic volunteers facilitates the production of (nearly) perfect transcriptions.