Plant Letters

What typology of documents may occur in the correspondence?

Correspondence received from the Botanic Garden of the University of Coimbra consists of letters, postcards, telegrams and business cards. Often, together with the letters there are also leaflets and catalogues, usually printed. There are also letters with associated biological material, such as small leaves, flowers and seeds.

Letters:

Postcards:

Business cards:

Are the letters all written in Portuguese?

No. The Botanic Garden of the University of Coimbra has maintained contact with scientists from all over the world. Most letters are either written in Portuguese or French, but there is also a significant set of letters in Spanish, English, German, and Italian. Several documents contain Latin, especially taxonomical descriptions and taxa information (botanical families, genus, species, etc.).

Can I choose a letter?

No. Images are chosen randomly by the platform. If you find that the spelling is complicated or if for any other reason you want to change the document, just click "Next" and then "Done". If you want to review a letter you’ve worked on, you can save it as a "Favorite" by clicking the heart icon in the lower right corner of the image.

There are misspelled words, should I correct them?

No. We want a real reading of the document and, therefore, a faithful transcription and the total respect for the spelling of the time.

I made a transcription error, now what?

No problem. Just click again on the underscore line and re-transcribe.