Manuscript Digest – April 2017 – This complimentary e-digest, launched in 2012, covers significant acquisitions and sales, manuscripts lost and found, rare books and ephemera, document conservation, and more.

In the News

Love for Sale
New York Times, March 25, 2017
Love comes at a price. How high? Check out the auction prices commanded by manly men writing love letters in a masculine way. Bonaparte, Churchill, DiMaggio …

The Old Man and the CIA
NPR, March 18, 2017
Ernest Hemingway, secret agent? A former CIA Museum historian dug into the archives and came back with the scoop — and Papa’s code name.

Hot Ink on Cold Blood
Rolling Stone, March 21, 2017
Truman Capote made his bones on In Cold Blood. Turns out one of the killers may have left his own memoir. What happens when true crime meets Tru story?

Don’t Have a Cow
The Telegraph, March 21, 2017
Bowing to peerage pressure, the UK Parliament will no longer print new laws on vellum. The end of a 500-year tradition puts knickers in a twist and saves —

Secrets of India’s Ink
The Hindu, March 19, 2017
The ink on Assam’s ancient manuscripts has staying power. Now researchers are out to revive the recipe. What’s in it? Put down that coffee cup.

Second Story Man
Washington Post, March 30, 2017
The impresario of DC-area Second Story Books defies digitization, categorization, and any thought of liquidation. Step into his magical realm.

‘Call to Arms’ in Louisiana
Shreveport Times, March 21, 2017
Heat. Humidity. Leaks. Light. They’re all taking a toll on archives, says the Louisiana Historical Association. And they may not be the biggest threat.

Setting the Records Straight
Columbia Daily Herald, March 18, 2017
A team spent 25 years digitizing Maury County, Tennessee, records. Then time caught up with the software. Could the records be saved — again?

Resurrecting ‘F. Mendelssohn’
The Guardian, March 8, 2017
The Easter Sonata languished unseen for 140 years. Once discovered, it was hailed as an unknown masterpiece by Felix Mendelssohn. Wrong “F. Mendelssohn.”

In on the Jokes
Smithsonian.com, March 6, 2017
Comic Phyllis Diller left the Smithsonian with 53,000 jokes, all on index cards. But the last laugh went to the volunteers who signed up to transcribe them.