Manuscript Digest: August – September 2022 – This complimentary e-digest, now published bi-monthly, covers significant acquisitions and sales, manuscripts lost and found, rare books and ephemera, document conservation, and more news […] […]

In the News

Past Perils of Presidential Papers
Stars and Stripes | Washington Post, August 27, 2022
Until 1978, presidents got to hold onto their papers — or not. (George Washington left his to nephew Bushrod Washington, and look what happened.) Why the records now go to NARA.

Founding Document Found
Smithsonian Magazine, July/August 2022
The challenge: find a 200-year-old document that might not exist — the contract that launched the nation of Liberia. The paper trail and the Bushrod Washington connection.

Culture and Conflict
Yahoo! News | Washington Post, August 11, 2022
In a modern spin on the Monuments Men, a new program is preparing Army reservists to evacuate priceless artifacts. They just had their first drill. Find out if they passed muster.

Book Return
ARTnews, August 24, 2022
he Museum of the Bible has again repatriated a piece from its collections, this time a medieval Gospel looted from a Greek monastery in WWI. Is more of the loot still out there?

‘Hotel California’ Charges
CNN, July 13, 2022
The lyrics to the Eagles’ “Hotel California” are cryptic, iconic — and hot, says the Manhattan District Attorney. Three men are accused of trying to sell the handwritten lyrics and notes.

Bard Sale
Robb Report, July 21, 2022
Only 750 copies of Shakespeare’s First Folio were printed, about 232 survive, and 18 are in private hands. One of those copies just changed private hands, for $2.4 million.

Fake Galileo
The Guardian, August 23, 2022
The University of Michigan Library treasured its Galileo manuscript. Then a scholar spotted the watermark and … guess the rest. The news gets worse.

Jefferson Gem
13News Now, July 18, 2022
There, in a pile of donated books, was a dusty old tome. But you can’t judge a book by its dusty old cover. This was the first edition of a law book compiled by (drumroll) …

Signed by Moonlight
Baltimore Sun, July 5, 2022
Remember Moonlight Graham in Field of Dreams? Played one game of major league ball, then went to med school? Real person, rare autograph. Well, a new batch just turned up.

Top 20 Autographs
Money Inc., August 1, 2022
What was the most expensive autograph ever sold? James Dean … John Kennedy … Abe Lincoln … Will Shakespeare … George Washington … Wait, where’s Button Gwinnett?
• Priciest sports memorabilia ever

From Our Blog

Meet This Year’s Maass Grant Scholar

The Manuscript Society’s Maass Grant supports scholarship using original sources. The 2022 grant goes to LeNie Adolphson, a doctoral candidate at Northern Illinois University. Her dissertation examines the struggle for health equity through the long lens of America’s first Black-owned and -operated hospital. See what makes her research both historic and timely.

Other Digest Interests

World Tour: 26 gorgeous university libraries from medieval to modern > Revel