Manuscript Digest – October 2015 – This complimentary e-digest, launched in 2012, covers significant acquisitions and sales, manuscripts lost and found, rare books and ephemera, document conservation, replevin activity, and more.

IN THE NEWS

Lincoln in Limbo
State Journal-Register, September 4, 2015
Could Illinois’s budget impasse leave the Papers of Abraham Lincoln project without a staff — or a future? >>

O Say, Can You See How They Came to Be Free?
Slate, September 11, 2015
A website offers a look at freedom petitions for enslaved people, including some filed by a key Baltimore lawyer. >>

Russia Gets a $43.7 Million Book Fine
Washington Post, September 13, 2015
A US judge has thrown the book at Russia for failing to turn over historic Jewish holdings. Learn about the collection in question. >>

The Getty and the Gospel
Los Angeles Times, September 21, 2015
The word has come down on eight pages of the Zeyt’un gospels held by the Getty Museum but claimed by the Armenian church. Will they stay in LA? >>

Darwinian Logic
CBS News, September 21, 2015
On matters of faith, the father of evolution kept his counsel. But in a recently auctioned letter, Charles Darwin said all he had to say, in one sentence. >>

The ‘City of Libraries’ and the Sands of Time
Daily Mail, September 1, 2015
A small Saharan town houses some of Islam’s oldest texts. Without help, they may be lost to the sands that surround them. >>

Giving Ancient Texts Their Day in the Sun
LiveScience, September 1, 2015
The future of India’s Garshuni manuscripts may lie in the stars — one star in particular. See how solar energy could save a rare trove. >>

Providential Discoveries Under the Dome
Providence Journal, September 20, 2015
In the attic above City Hall, archivists keep the records of Rhode Island’s capital. The story of finding the town charter never gets old. >>

CIA OKs PDBs for JFK and LBJ
Politico, September 16, 2015
The CIA has just released 2,500 President’s Daily Briefs from the 1960s. Vietnam, Cuban Missile Crisis, Six-Day War … Read them ASAP. >>

Unlocking Letterlocking
New York Times, September 17, 2015
Elizabeth I. Machiavelli. Galileo. Marie Antoinette. All used letterlocking to thwart prying eyes. Now an MIT conservator is cracking their secret art. >>
• Sneak a peek. >>
• Follow the conversation on social media: #signedsealedundelivered.

EVENTS

Discovery and Recovery: Preserving Iraqi Jewish Heritage
Ends November 15
Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, 18001 Yorba Linda Blvd.,
Yorba Linda, CA
Adults $11.95, seniors $8.50, students and military $6.95, children $4.75, under 7 and members free >>

• Discover more. >>

Alice in a World of Wonderlands
Ends November 21, closed Sundays and Columbus Day
Grolier Club, 47 E. 60th St., New York
Free >>
• Translation colloquium October 7–8; $75, space limited >>

We Are One: Mapping America’s Road from Revolution to Independence
Ends November 29
Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston St.
Free >>

Ernest Hemingway: Between Two Wars
Ends January 31, 2016; closed Mondays and holidays
Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York
Adults $18, seniors and students $12, under 13 and members free >>

• The Wall Street Journal weighs in. >>