Dear Monsieur Sampaio...

This multilingual Zooniverse project turns Gonçalo Sampaio's correspondence into a public transcription desk. Choose a language, study scans from the University of Porto herbarium, and help unlock letters that wander through botany, music, education, politics, and ordinary life.

What is Dear Monsieur Sampaio...?

The hook is not merely old paper; it is the network hiding inside it. Dear Monsieur Sampaio… opens a large personal archive whose letters run from the late 1880s to 1936 and connect a Portuguese botanist with scores of correspondents across several disciplines and languages. The landing page routes volunteers toward language-specific workflows, while About, Talk, and Collect provide the research context and community edges around the transcription task. Each deciphered line can turn a name, journey, specimen, argument, or melody from ink into searchable evidence. The archive is substantial, and several workflows may already be complete, so this feels less like a casual clicker and more like joining a patient relay across languages and generations.

What you can do there

• Choose a correspondence language
• Read digitised handwritten letters
• Transcribe historical text
• Discuss documents with other volunteers

Why we picked it

Few volunteer projects make intellectual history feel this tangible. A single letter can sit at the intersection of plant taxonomy, university life, politics, or folk music, and the multilingual workflow lets readers bring very specific knowledge to the table. The independent inclusion in Northeastern's history-themed Zooniverse challenge also suggests the project works well as an approachable doorway into primary-source transcription.

How to get the most from it

Start with the language you read most confidently, open the tutorial before attempting a document, and budget enough time to inspect difficult handwriting without rushing. Keep the research page nearby for context, and use Talk when a name or phrase needs another pair of eyes. The museum's participation page says contributors should register for a Zooniverse account.

Good to know

This is careful contribution work, not a finished browseable archive. Public progress counters were inconsistent during review, workflow availability can change, and the team says the final validated results will live outside Zooniverse. We did not execute the transcription or discussion flows, assess handwriting legibility, or capture an approved screenshot, so device, accessibility, autosave, privacy, and submission behavior still need review. Detected icons and social artwork remain unapproved evidence only.

Who made it, and when?

Museu de História Natural e da Ciência da Universidade do Porto is the credited creator or organization. The earliest supported launch date we found is November 28, 2023.