‘I could provide you with endless material consisting of memories and letters’
Correcting AI transcriptions of Betsy Meyer's correspondence
In 1890, the poet and literary scholar Adolf Frey (1855-1920) began writing a biography of Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (1825-1898), which was published in 1900 under the title ‘Conrad Ferdinand Meyer. His life and works’. Elisabetha Cleophea (Betsy) Meyer (1831-1912) contributed to the project by reporting on her brother in letters and personal conversations. The first personal exchange took place in Aarau in November 1892. This was followed by letters and dispatches from Betsy Meyer with memories of her brother.
The ZB's holdings include extensive correspondence between Betsy Meyer and the married couple Adolf and Lina Frey-Beger (1853-1942), consisting of almost 300 letters. The transcription software Transkribus has been used to create raw transcriptions of around one hundred letters. You can now correct and add to these in the e-manuscripta transcription tool. We will publish your edits to the transcriptions online on the platform.
The campaign is part of the strategic focus on Citizen Science at the Zentralbibliothek Zürich.
Instruction
The video tutorial provides an introduction to editing AI raw transcriptions on e-manuscripta.ch.
In the PDF ‘Important principles for working with the new editor’ you will find further information on editing the raw transcriptions of Betsy Meyer's letters.
Betsy Meyer's correspondence
 | Betsy Meyer to Adolf Frey, 33 letters, 1 insertGustav Adolf Frey was born on 18 February 1855 in Rombach (Canton Aargau). In 1875, the family moved to Bern, where Adolf Frey studied German language and literature and graduated in 1878. He was in correspondence with various poets, including Conrad Ferdinand Meyer and Gottfried Keller (1819-1890). After reading Adolf Frey's ‘Memories of Gottfried Keller’, Betsy Meyer offered her help with Frey's biography of her brother. She wanted Adolf Frey to write a memoir about her brother similar to the one about Keller: ‘You can certainly count on my full and best will to contribute as much as I can so that the picture you want to draw of our beloved poet will be a very similar, lively and perfect one.’ She then willingly set about ‘recounting dear old memories’ about her brother.
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 | Betsy Meyer to Lina Frey-Beger, 59 lettersLina Beger was born on 4 February 1853 in Mosbach (Grand Duchy of Baden). In 1875, she was the first and only student to enrol in the philological-historical section of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Bern, where, like Adolf Frey, she obtained her doctorate in 1878. Betsy Meyer appreciated Lina Frey-Beger because of her publication on ‘Conrad Ferdinand Meyer's Gedichte und Novellen’, which appeared in print in 1892. She had sent the publication to Betsy Meyer as a gift; she was very pleased that Lina Frey-Beger had ‘such a great understanding of my brother's poetic character’. In the personal letters to Lina Frey-Beger, Betsy Meyer reports on visits and gifts as well as her brother's state of health.
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 | Betsy Meyer to Adolf and Lina Frey-Beger, 11 lettersLina Beger and Adolf Frey first met while studying in Bern. They met again in Berlin in 1882 and became engaged. Their wedding took place on 19 April of the following year. The young couple moved to Aarau, where Adolf Frey worked as a German teacher at the Alte Kantonsschule. In 1898, he became a professor of German literature at the University of Zurich. Adolf and Lina Frey-Beger prepared the Meyer biography together; Betsy Meyer was happy to provide them with information. The letters to the Frey couple mix business and personal topics.
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Total progress
Ranking
The ranking is updated regularly. Version dated: 21. May 2025
Username | Number of pages |
Hertach, Fritz | 23 |
Hausheer, Yvonne | 10 |
Beeli, Giuanna | 3 |
Vils, Gian | 1 |
Strassmann, Ruth | 1 |
| Total | 38 |
Additionally, there are transcriptions from people who wish to remain anonymous.
Event
On Saturday, 17 May 2025, we were holding a workshop on correcting correspondence together in Seminar Room A of the Zentralbibliothek Zürich. A big thank you to all participants for their support!
Contact
Do you have any questions or comments about the campagne? Get in touch!
Dr. Richard Fasching