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Guide

How to make historical documents accessible for low vision

Strategies for accessing historical documents and primary source materials in several formats with assistive technology for low vision/visual access

As part of my academic research and personal side projects, I often encounter primary source and historical documents that feature low resolution images, faded or low contrast colors, or other quality issues that make them more difficult to read. Of course, I love it when I find accessible content in formats I can read or that has been remediated/made accessible for people with print disabilities like me, but sometimes I have to find my own workarounds for accessing content. Here is a list of strategies for how I access historical documents with low vision, including tips for multiple types of content and additional resources.

Typewritten documents

Typewritten documents are inclusive of documents that are produced using a typewriter or computer. Unlike handwriting, each typewritten letter/number/symbol has a generally consistent appearance and size. This consistency makes typewritten documents a great candidate for optical character recognition (OCR) technologies, which recognize text from images, though OCR content will need to be proofread for errors.

Strategies for reading typewritten documents with assistive technology for visual access include:

Handwritten documents

Handwritten documents may not have consistent size or appearance for letters/numbers/symbols, and older documents may have faded ink colors as well. OCR technology is less reliable for detecting text, especially cursive text, because handwriting styles are often unique to the individual and may not have consistent letter sizes or shapes.

Strategies for reading handwritten documents with assistive technology for visual access include:

Newspapers

Most of the newspapers I encounter in my own resource are in digital formats of some sort, but have low resolution scans that make it difficult to read text. Alternatively, the multi-column layouts of text can be challenging to read with double vision, as I have trouble tracking where one line ends and the next line begins.

Strategies for reading newspapers and news articles with assistive technology for visual access include:

Reading PDF copies of text

Even though they are one of the most common formats for digital archiving, I don’t live PDFs very much as someone with low vision. I can’t adjust the line spacing, font style, or enlarge text without zooming in/magnifying the page and having to scroll horizontally. Also, if a PDF is scanned as an image, I can’t use a screen reader or text-to-speech to read any of the text. In order for a PDF to be accessible for screen reader users or with text-to-speech, it will need to be a Tagged PDF, which includes important structural elements such as headings as well as OCR text that can be read by a screen reader.

Strategies for reading scanned PDFs with assistive technology for visual access include:

Primary source videos/film

Primary source videos and films that are archived with museums, presidential libraries, and similar sources often include a captioning file and/or transcripts that can be read by the viewer to get more information. Transcripts also often include a description of visual content in the video/film. Viewers that are sensitive to flashing or flickering animations may prefer to read transcripts for primary source videos as they may contain floaters or flickering effects depending on the quality of the film.

Strategies for watching primary source videos and films with assistive technology for visual access include:

Images/photographs

The majority of libraries, museum archives, and similar sources will have a caption or image description linked with digital copies of images/photographs that provides information about significant visual details, such as who is in the picture and where it was taken. This is similar to including alt text for an image, though the caption/image description is “exposed” so that anyone can read it.

Strategies for viewing historical photos/images with assistive technology for visual access include:

Audio recordings

While audio recordings themselves do not involve any visual content and are theoretically a great format for accessing content, audio playback tools may be difficult to use with screen readers or contain small buttons that are hard to see.

Strategies for listening to audio recordings with assistive technology for visual access include:

Maps (physical and digital)

Maps often have a high level of visual detail that require more careful examination compared to reading text, as each letter and symbol are of critical importance. Personally, I prefer to read digital maps when possible, as larger maps may be cut off or more difficult for me to read due to the size, while digital maps can be fit to my device screen.

Strategies for viewing maps with assistive technology for visual access include:

More resources on how I access historical documents with low vision


This post on accessing historical documents with low vision is written by Veronica Lewis, M.Ed. and reposted with permission from Veronica With Four Eyes.

Published August 2018. Updated June 2025

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