The collection Riga City Council Minutes, 1603–1889, included in the Latvian National Register of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme, has been published in the Digital Library. This collection consists of 386 Riga Town Council minutes held in the Latvian State History Archive of the National Archives of Latvia. Researchers can access them at: https://digitalabiblioteka.lv/?col=67dd78d79b26a.
The minutes are an invaluable source for studying the political, economic, social, and cultural history—as well as everyday life—of Riga, Latvia, and the Baltic region over nearly three centuries. To make these documents digitally accessible, the Restoration and Digitization Departments of the Document Preventive Preservation Department at the National Archives of Latvia undertook extensive restoration, conservation, photofixation, and digitization efforts. As part of the digitization process, conservation work was carried out on 74 volumes, while 8 volumes underwent full restoration. A new methodology was also developed to prevent damage caused by iron-gall ink corrosion, alongside a study of historical restoration techniques.
Detailed information was compiled for each volume, including dimensions, materials used, existing damage, and previous restorations. The books were found to be bound in parchment or cowhide covers. The lightest volume weighs 1.4 kg, the heaviest 7 kg, and the entire collection approximately 1,390 kg. Some of the books originally featured leather cover closures, though most of these have unfortunately been lost over time. The edges of the book blocks are decorated in blue or a combination of blue and red. The thickest manuscript contains 1,412 pages, presenting significant challenges during the digitization process. In total, approximately 265,000 pages have been digitized in high quality and resolution for long-term preservation and use.
The minutes are handwritten in German, requiring proficiency in German paleography for proper interpretation. To enhance access to these historical records, the archive conducted trials using optical character recognition and machine reading. On the Transkribus platform, a new German handwriting model was developed based on transcripts of the Riga City Council minutes. Using this model, four volumes of the minutes—totaling 3,170 pages—were successfully transcribed. More details on this project can be found in Mairita Lukianska’s article, “Using Artificial Intelligence in Handwriting Recognition in the Riga City Council Minutes Collection”, published in the 2024 issue of Latvijas Arhīvi.
The National Archives of Latvia hopes that the online publication of the City Council minutes will inspire new research, knowledge, and creative endeavors. The Archives express their gratitude to all the specialists at the National Archives of Latvia and the Digital Library who have contributed to the preservation and accessibility of this invaluable historical heritage.
