Historical Documents

The charred papyrus scroll recovered from Herculaneum is preserved in 12 trays mounted under glass. Here is PHerc.118 in tray 8. The scroll was physically unrolled in 1883-84, causing irreparable damage.

Buried by the Ash of Vesuvius, These Scrolls Are Being Read for the First Time in Millennia

A revolutionary American scientist is using subatomic physics to decipher 2,000-year-old texts from the early days of Western civilization

An authentic copy of a letter written by Christopher Columbus as displayed at the Vatican. The United States is returning to the Vatican Library a letter written by Christopher Columbus in 1493 announcing his discovery of the New World that was stolen and replaced with a forgery.

Stolen Christopher Columbus Letter Returned to Vatican, But Mystery Persists

The letter, which had been printed in 1493, was replaced with a convincing fake—and investigators still don’t know who committed the crime

Albert Einstein during a lecture in Vienna in 1921

Einstein’s Travel Diaries Reveal His Deeply Troubling Views on Race

“It would be a pity if these Chinese supplant all other races,” the iconic scientist writes

Anne Frank in 1940

Researchers Decipher Two Hidden Pages of Anne Frank’s Diary

They contain her musings on sex education and four ‘dirty’ jokes

Cache of Benjamin Franklin's Original Manuscripts—Doodles and All—Gets Digitized

The Library of Congress recently released approximately 8,000 letters, drafts and documents from the founding father

North Dakota Makes a Push for a Teddy Roosevelt Presidential Library

The towns of Dickinson and Medora are raising money in hopes of establishing a library and museum to the 26th president who once ranched in the area

The names of 50 victims of the 1887 Thibodaux massacre in Louisiana are among those inscribed on the new memorial.

A New Memorial Remembers the Thousands of African-Americans Who Were Lynched

Next month's opening of the monument in Alabama will be a necessary step in reckoning with America's deadly past

President Lyndon Johnson constituted the Kerner Commission to identify the genesis of the violent 1967 riots that killed 43 in Detroit and 26 in Newark (above, soldiers in a Newark storefront), while causing fewer casualties in 23 other cities.

The 1968 Kerner Commission Got It Right, But Nobody Listened

Released 50 years ago, the infamous report found that poverty and institutional racism were driving inner-city violence

‘Frankenstein’ Manuscript Shows the Evolution of Mary Shelley’s Monster

A British publisher is releasing 1,000 facsimiles of the two notebooks in which Shelly scrawled her iconic novel

Restored Stone Declaration of Independence.

Copy of Declaration of Independence, Hidden Behind Wall Paper During the Civil War, Resurfaces in Texas

The document, which belonged to James Madison, is one of 200 facsimiles commissioned in the 19th century

A decline in women authors and named characters has subtly shaped our understanding of literary history, says study author Ted Underwood.

Women Were Better Represented in Victorian Novels Than Modern Ones

Big data shows that women used to be omnipresent in fiction. Then men got in the way

This copy of David Walker’s “Appeal”, held in the collections of Emory University's Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, was owned and signed by W.E.B. Du Bois.

The Book That Spooked the South

David Walker’s “Appeal” laid bare the ethical bankruptcy of slavery moreso than any other book of its time

Scholars Decipher One of the Last Encrypted Dead Sea Scrolls

The text sheds light on an unusual Jewish calendar

Massive Data Project Will Help People Identify Enslaved Ancestors

Michigan State's 'Enslaved: The People of the Historic Slave Trade' will combine available historical data on slavery into one searchable hub

The Top Ten Most Important Ancient Documents Lost to History

Either due to conquest or simply the ravages of time, these founding papers of civilizations around the world will remain mysteries forever

Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of China, may not have discovered an elixir to life but he did achieve his own form of immortality through his teracotta army

2,000-Year-Old Texts Reveal the First Emperor of China’s Quest for Eternal Life

Qin Shihuang issued an executive order demanding that his subjects search for an immortality elixir

Engraving of the Marquis de Sade (1740-1814)

‘120 Days of Sodom', Marquis de Sade's Depraved Opus, Declared a French National Treasure

Officials sought to prevent the manuscript from being sold at an upcoming auction

An illustrated Greek medical text was found beneath the oldest Arabic translation of the Gospels.

Archaeologists Are Only Just Beginning to Reveal the Secrets Hidden in These Ancient Manuscripts

A project to scan documents found in the walls of a remote monastery is reshaping our view of the connections between East and West

Tibetan manuscripts

A Look Inside China’s Effort to Preserve Historical Mongolian Manuscripts

Various projects are attempting to digitize the more than 200,000 volumes of Mongolian books and documents in the country

This manuscript on astronomy by Issachar Ber Carmoly dates to 1751.

Hidden in a Basement for 70 Years, Newly Discovered Documents Shed Light on Jewish Life and Culture Before WWII

The 170,000 pages found might be “the most important collection of Jewish archives since the Dead Sea Scrolls.”

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