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Digest: February – March 2022
Manuscript Digest: February – March 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 […] […]
Recent Posts
Document Conservation: Today’s Challenges
Document Conservation: Today's challenge In 2019, NEDCC [Northeast Document Conservation Center] worked on the conservation of the State of South Carolina’s seven Constitutions. They also worked to conserve a certified copy of the 1790 Constitution. The South Carolina Department of Archives and History was concerned with prior restoration techniques. Were [...]
John Jenkins: A Double Life – Bluffing Texas Style
John Holmes Jenkins was a Texan. He was a gambler. A rare book collector. Poker pro “Amarillo Slim” Preston described Jenkins as “a sneaky, clever rat.” John Holmes Jenkins’ life and times is illuminated by Santa Fe rare books dealer, Manuscript Society member and onetime Jenkins acquaintance Michael Vinson. His [...]
Einstein-Szilárd Letter and Manhattan Project
August 2, 1939 - Physicist Leó Szilárd writes a letter signed by Albert Einstein. It is sent to Franklin D. Roosevelt. It is an attempt to warn the president that Nazi Germany may be working on a fission bomb. The U.S. should begin work immediately on its own nuclear weapons [...]
Transcribing History: One Word at a Time
Stacie Peterson is exhibitions manager and registrar at the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri. She has been working for eight years to digitize letters, diaries, journals. They are from soldiers, sailors, and families during the First World War. Today, the National World War I [...]
Smithsonian – Digital Volunteers Needed
Volunteers Needed Become a Digital Volunteer. Help make historical documents and biodiversity data more accessible. The Smithsonian Transcription Center wants your help making its collections more accessible. Librarians, archivists, and museum staff work hand-in-hand with digital volunteers to transcribe historic documents and collection records. The kinds of items you work [...]
Nathan Raab: The Hunt for History
In The Hunt for History, Manuscript Society member, Nathan Raab shares some fascinating stories about his professional exploits. Whether it’s the first report of Napoleon’s death or an unpublished letter penned by Albert Einstein to a curious soldier, every document and artifact Raab uncovers comes with a spellbinding story. It [...]
Elizabeth Barrett Browning turns 214!
March 6, 2020 is the 214th birthday of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. How Do We Celebrate Thee? Visit the Armstrong Browning Library at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. It is home to thousands of items related to Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. It has amassed one of the world’s largest [...]
