AI and the Work of the Historian

Frédérick Madore

Contents

Slide 1

AI and Africa Symposium · University of Kansas · 17 September 2026

AI and the work
of the historian

Researching Islam and Muslims in West Africa.
Curating the sources through which we study them.

Frédérick Madore Historian and Data Curator Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence

Slide 2

Abundance has a history

Collection items20,000+

Words in the textual corpus≈31 million

YouTube audiovisual minutes34,468

Items in my Zotero library38,142

Saved IWAC homepage showing the collection overview, search and navigation.

A familiar problem for historians: “scanning parties”, thousands of photographs, little time to read them.

Slide 3

Newly readable, still interpreted

Transcription and indexing in my workflow

Multimodal LLMs extract text from printed and handwritten pages
Draft transcriptions to check against the original page
Small LLMs identify names, places and organisations

Transcription

A readable text

Which spellings and uncertainties survive?

Indexing

A connected record

Do two names identify the same person?

Cataloguing

A findable collection

Which names and places get recorded?

Historical source criticism

A wrong transcription still reads well. Keep each transformation traceable to the document.

Slide 4

Reading printed Ewé

A 1976 page of the Togolese newspaper Togo Presse, printed in the Ewé language with full diacritics

Togo Presse, 31 July 1976.

Extracted text · Ewé

MIAFE ŊUTIFAFAFIA EYADEMA KPE TA KPLE MƆSLEMTƆWO FE ƉEKAWƆWƆ DƆDZIKPƆHA LA

Mia nɔvi Mɔslem hamea ngɔnɔlawo se nya xɔasiwo tso Togo yeyea fofo nu

«Woayra amesiwo léa avu la, elabena woayɔwo be Mawuviwo»

Enye Togo yeyea fofo avafiawodzifia Gnassingbe Eyadema fe didi vevi be amesiame nanɔ dzidzɔ kple ŋutifafa me lle yefe Denyigba la katã dzi, Dzre, fuéle kple mamãwo manɔ amewo kple habɔbɔwo domo o. Eyaŋuti dukplɔla Eyadema anukwaretɔ la lɔna ɖɔɖɔɖowo wɔwɔ edziedzi le dukɔmeviwo dome ɖo.

Ete ŋu dze edzi be miafe tatɔ nutefewɔla la do go kple mia nɔvi Mɔslem Hame fe amegãwo nyitsɔ le RPT fea me hena wodome nyawo sese,

Tototɔ kple dzre ɖo Mɔslem Hamea fe dɔdzikpɔha la me etefe didi. Ale mamã kple fuléle ɖo wo dome.

Le wofe anyinɔnɔa kple numeɖeɖeawo me na To o yeyea fofo vɔ megbe la, miafe ŋutifafa anukwaretɔ Eyadema ɖo asi Hamea fe dɔdzikpɔha la dzi elabenà ŋutif fa kple lɔlɔ̃ mele wo dome o

Eɖe nu me na Xɔsetɔawo be ɖekawɔwɔ kple ŋutifafa dim yele le yefe anyigba la dzi..,

Mlɔeba la dukplɔla la ɖo dɔléɖeasihaa ɖe, si me ame 17 le la na mia nɔviawo bena woadzra Mɔslemtɔwo fe takpekpe gã. si wɔ ge woala la le Lome le Dasiãmime 4 lia dzi la fe dɔwɔwɔwo ɖo,

Avafiawo Menveyinoyu Dzafalo, dũdɔnunɔla Lãmesẽ kple Hadomegbɛnɔnya-wogbɔkpɔla kple Ayaovi Asila, Togo tuakɔwo fe tatɔ kpeɖeŋutɔ hekpe ɖe dukplɔla fe dɔwɔfe dzikpɔla afɛtɔ Kpotivi Têvi Dzidzagbe Lacle ŋu woenɔ tatɔ Eyadema ŋu le Mɔslem Hamea fe nyawodɔdrɔ̃ me. Eye afɛtɔ Mama Fuseni kple Kasim Mensa, siwo nye Hamea fe bubu 'mewo la hã nɔ Takpekpea me nyitsɔ ma,

Slide 5