SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
EXPLORE +
  • About infoDOCKET
  • Academic Libraries on LJ
  • Research on LJ
  • News on LJ
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Libraries
    • Academic Libraries
    • Government Libraries
    • National Libraries
    • Public Libraries
  • Companies (Publishers/Vendors)
    • EBSCO
    • Elsevier
    • Ex Libris
    • Frontiers
    • Gale
    • PLOS
    • Scholastic
  • New Resources
    • Dashboards
    • Data Files
    • Digital Collections
    • Digital Preservation
    • Interactive Tools
    • Maps
    • Other
    • Podcasts
    • Productivity
  • New Research
    • Conference Presentations
    • Journal Articles
    • Lecture
    • New Issue
    • Reports
  • Topics
    • Archives & Special Collections
    • Associations & Organizations
    • Awards
    • Funding
    • Interviews
    • Jobs
    • Management & Leadership
    • News
    • Patrons & Users
    • Preservation
    • Profiles
    • Publishing
    • Roundup
    • Scholarly Communications
      • Open Access

November 11, 2015 by Gary Price

International Group of Experts “Explore 17th-Century Postal Archive in ‘Signed, Sealed, and Undelivered'”

November 11, 2015 by Gary Price

From MIT Libraries:

A recently rediscovered trunk containing 2,600 letters sent from France, Spain, and the Spanish Netherlands between 1689 and 1706 will soon provide a fascinating glimpse into the plight of the early modern European everyman. These letters remained undelivered — including 600 letters never opened — because their recipients could not be found or would not pay outstanding postage costs. The trunk has been stored in The Hague’s Museum voor Communicatie since 1926. Now, an international team of experts from MIT, Yale University, University of Leiden, University of Groningen, and Oxford Univeristy is exploring each missive in a ground-breaking project called “Signed, Sealed, and Undelivered.”
[Clip]
The seals and the unique ways the letters were folded are crucial to understanding the letters’ dissemination, reception, and use. [ [Nadine] Akkerman [University of Leiden] and Daniel Starza Smith, from Lincoln College at Oxford University, approached Jana Dambrogio, the Thomas F. Peterson conservator at MIT Libraries, to join the project team because of her expertise in minimal intervention repair approaches to the conservation of library and archival materials and “letterlocking” — the tradition of folding and securing a writing surface to function as its own envelope. Dambrogio says of this cache of letters, “The inventiveness and complexity here is like nothing we have ever seen. ‘Letterlocking’ is an entirely new area of study, so the trunk offers us amazing research opportunities.”
Dambrogio is developing a number of resources to help scholars and the general public understand the history and technology of letter writing and document security, including instructional videos that show how to lock and unlock letters found in historic collections. She has also created an effective and highly engaging teaching tool, the so-called, “locked letter” give-away, which allows people to experience tearing the security tab to read the letter’s content. A favorite format is one modeled after a highly secure structure used by Queen Elizabeth I and her spymasters during the imminent arrest of Mary Queen of Scots. Dambrogio has given away more than 4,000 “locked” letters to students, professionals in allied disciplines, and the general public to convey the nuances that are hard to put in words. She and Starza Smith lecture and teach “letterlocking” workshops around the world to varied audiences — from elementary school children to PhD candidates.
For “Signed, Sealed, and Undelivered,” MIT Libraries will collaborate within the Institute to develop digital and physical tools used to image manuscripts — in this case, handwritten missives collected by the postmasters of the Dutch city of The Hague, Simon de Brienne and his wife Maria Germain. The Briennes were at the heart of European communications networks, serving William of Orange both before and after The Glorious Revolution of 1688, which saw William and his wife Mary depose King James II following a successful Dutch invasion of England, Scotland, and Ireland — which shocked the world and changed Europe forever.

Read the Complete MIT News Article (approx 1050 words)
Direct to “Signed, Sealed, and Undelivered”

Filed under: Lecture, Libraries, News, Preservation

SHARE:

About Gary Price

Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com. Gary is also the co-founder of infoDJ an innovation research consultancy supporting corporate product and business model teams with just-in-time fact and insight finding.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Job Zone

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Infodocket Posts

New IMLS Releases Research Brief: Access to Public Library Services and Materials During the First Nine Months of...

From IMLS: The Institute of Museum and Library Services announced today the release of a research brief on the public library response to community needs during the first 9 months ...

Video: Poet and Author Amanda Gorman Joins "CBS Mornings" For Her First Interview Since Her Poem And Book,...

From CBS News (via YouTube): Poet and author Amanda Gorman joins “CBS Mornings” for her first interview since her poem and book, “The Hill We Climb,” was restricted by a ...

GPO and NOAA Partner to Increase Permanent Public Access to NOAA Publications

From a Joint Announcement: U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Central Library is working to add more than 47,000 unique items ...

Scholarly Communication: "Why Nature Will Not Allow the Use of Generative AI in Images and Video"

From a Nature Editorial: Why are we disallowing the use of generative AI in visual content? Ultimately, it is a question of integrity. The process of publishing — as far ...

NSF Releases Public Access Plan 2.0; NISO Welcomes New Board Members; & More News Headlines

AI For Drug Discovery: Digital Science Fully Acquires OntoChem Congressional Research Service (CRS) Director Under Fire Resigning at Congress’ Research Arm (via BGov) EU Busy with AI Assessing Copyright in ...

New Data From Circana: "Soaring Sales of LGBTQ Fiction Defy Book Bans and Showcase Diversity in Storytelling"

From Circana: Sales of LGBTQ fiction in the U.S. reached an all-time high in the 12 months ending May 2023, according to Circana, formerly IRI and The NPD Group, increasing by ...

University of Maryland Libraries Acquires Ford’s Theatre Records

From the University of Maryland Libraries: The University of Maryland Libraries is excited to announce the acquisition of Ford’s Theatre records. The Ford’s Theatre records will be archived with Special ...

Are Public Computers In Libraries Becoming Obsolete?; Chicago Sun-Times Introduces a 'Right to Be Forgotten' Policy; & More...

AI Is Used Widely, but Lawmakers Have Set Few Rules (via Stateline) Are Public Computers in Libraries Becoming Obsolete? (via Government Technology) California Expands Partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library ...

World First: Researchers Create CO2 Measurement Tool to Calculate Emissions Caused by Stored Digital Data

From  Loughborough University (via Newswise): By 2025, it is estimated that the global data will surpass 180 zettabytes The amount of digital data is doubling every two years A typical ...

Canada: National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS) Launches Its First-Ever Artificial Intelligence Narrated Audiobook

Here’s the Full Text of a NNELS Announcement: Have you noticed an increase in news lately about Artificial Intelligence (AI)? It is certainly a hot topic and something most of ...

Indiana School Librarians Worry New Law Banning 'Obscene' Books Will Harm Their Work and Students; Chicago Sun-Times Introduces...

Bloomsbury: Survival of Publishers Points to AI Prophecy Overkill (via FT, Subs Only) ||| Archived Version Indiana School Librarians Worry New Law Banning ‘Obscene’ Books Will Harm Their Work and ...

Journal Article: "Global Trends in Digital Preservation: Outsourcing Versus In-House Practices"

The article linked below was recently published by the Journal of Librarianship and Information Science (JOLIS). Title Global Trends in Digital Preservation: Outsourcing Versus In-House Practices Authors Rafiq AhmadBacha Khan ...

ADVERTISEMENT

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

Tweets by infoDOCKET

ADVERTISEMENT

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • Programs+
  • Design
  • Leadership
  • People
  • COVID-19
  • Advocacy
  • Opinion
  • INFOdocket
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Booklists
  • Prepub Alert
  • Book Pulse
  • Media
  • Readers' Advisory
  • Self-Published Books
  • Review Submissions
  • Review for LJ

Awards

  • Library of the Year
  • Librarian of the Year
  • Movers & Shakers 2022
  • Paralibrarian of the Year
  • Best Small Library
  • Marketer of the Year
  • All Awards Guidelines
  • Community Impact Prize

Resources

  • LJ Index/Star Libraries
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies

Events & PD

  • Online Courses
  • In-Person Events
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Submit Features/News
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Careers at MSI


© 2023 Library Journal. All rights reserved.


© 2022 Library Journal. All rights reserved.