Letterlocking

Jana Dambrogio and Daniel Starz Smith - Letterlocking: The Hidden History

TUESDAY TALKS: WRITING. RESEARCH. BOOKS.

register here

6–7pm, March 4th, 2025

JANA DAMBROGIO, 2008 FELLOW, AND DANIEL STARZA SMITH

Letterlocking: The Hidden History of the Letter – launch event and lecture

Join us for the online launch event for Letterlocking: The Hidden History of the Letter (MIT Press)! Before the invention of the gummed envelope in the 1830s, if you wanted to send a letter you would have had to use letterlocking—the ingenious process of securing a letter using a combination of folds, tucks, slits, or adhesives such as sealing wax, so that it becomes its own envelope. This new book reveals the secrets of this almost entirely forgotten practice, used by historical figures ranging from Elizabeth I and her spies to Japanese samurai lords, and which was once an everyday activity for centuries, across cultures, borders, and social classes. Jana Dambrogio and Daniel Starza Smith will give a presentation about letterlocking’s intricate security techniques, will explain how the study emerged over years of collaborative work across conservation, the arts and humanities, and the sciences, and will show you how to fold a historical letter.

Jana Dambrogio is a conservator, researcher, educator, and artist. She works as the Thomas F. Peterson (1957) Conservator for Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries. She previously held positions at the US National Archives, the United Nations, and the Vatican Apostolic Archives, where she was Kress Fellow. While working as a conservator in an ancient archive, she rediscovered a technique she coined, "letterlocking." Over the years, she modeled thousands of letters, and with her co-author Daniel Starza Smith, assembled the Unlocking History Research Group. The team focuses on developing this new field by creating resources to examine, document, categorize, and virtually unfold historic letters.

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Letterlocking

The Hidden History of the Letter

By Jana Dambrogio and Daniel Starza Smith with the Unlocking History Research Group

The rich history of a centuries-old document security technology—folding and securing a letter into its own envelope for delivery—and a comprehensive guide to learning how to make your own locked letters.

Before the invention of the gummed envelope in the 1830s, how did people secure their private letters? The answer is letterlocking—the ingenious process of securing a letter using a combination of folds, tucks, slits, or adhesives such as sealing wax, so that it becomes its own envelope. This almost entirely forgotten practice, used by historical figures ranging from Elizabeth I and her spies to Japanese samurai lords, was an everyday activity for centuries, across cultures, borders, and social classes. In Letterlocking, Jana Dambrogio and Daniel Starza Smith, experts who have pioneered the field over the last ten years, tell the fascinating story of letterlocking within epistolary history, drawing on real historical examples from all over the world.

Fully illustrated with more than 300 images and diagrams, including a dictionary of sixty technical terms and concepts, Letterlocking describes the essential precepts of the practice and provides sources of practical support needed for beginner and advanced users of letterlocking. The authors also advocate for the understanding of letterlocking and for its inclusion in a range of intellectual and cultural research, from conservation science and archival databases to historical television shows. By the end of the book, readers will learn how to make locked letters, study letters that may have been locked, and categorize those letters using systems the authors developed while studying more than 250,000 historic letters.

Letterlocking is accompanied by a website, freely acces-sible scholarly articles, and instructional videos and diagrams, as well as foldable tear-out sheets with instructions on how to fold and lock models of extant historical letters.

Jana Dambrogio is Thomas F. Peterson (1957) Conservator for MIT Libraries. She previously held positions at the US National Archives, the United Nations, and the Vatican Apostolic Archives.

Daniel Starza Smith is Senior Lecturer in Early Modern English Literature at King’s College London. His books include John Donne and the Conway Papers and (with coeditor Joshua Eckhardt) Manuscript Miscellanies in Early Modern England. He is General Editor of the correspondence of John Donne for Oxford University Press.

Jana Dambrogio and Daniel Starz Smith - Letterlocking: The Hidden History

TUESDAY TALKS: WRITING. RESEARCH. BOOKS.

register here

6–7pm, March 4th, 2025

JANA DAMBROGIO, 2008 FELLOW, AND DANIEL STARZA SMITH

Letterlocking: The Hidden History of the Letter – launch event and lecture

Join us for the online launch event for Letterlocking: The Hidden History of the Letter (MIT Press)! Before the invention of the gummed envelope in the 1830s, if you wanted to send a letter you would have had to use letterlocking—the ingenious process of securing a letter using a combination of folds, tucks, slits, or adhesives such as sealing wax, so that it becomes its own envelope. This new book reveals the secrets of this almost entirely forgotten practice, used by historical figures ranging from Elizabeth I and her spies to Japanese samurai lords, and which was once an everyday activity for centuries, across cultures, borders, and social classes. Jana Dambrogio and Daniel Starza Smith will give a presentation about letterlocking’s intricate security techniques, will explain how the study emerged over years of collaborative work across conservation, the arts and humanities, and the sciences, and will show you how to fold a historical letter.

Jana Dambrogio is a conservator, researcher, educator, and artist. She works as the Thomas F. Peterson (1957) Conservator for Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries. She previously held positions at the US National Archives, the United Nations, and the Vatican Apostolic Archives, where she was Kress Fellow. While working as a conservator in an ancient archive, she rediscovered a technique she coined, "letterlocking." Over the years, she modeled thousands of letters, and with her co-author Daniel Starza Smith, assembled the Unlocking History Research Group. The team focuses on developing this new field by creating resources to examine, document, categorize, and virtually unfold historic letters.

Description The rich history of a centuries-old document security technology—folding and securing a letter into its own envelope for delivery—and a comprehensive guide to learning how to make your own locked letters. Before the invention of the gummed envelope in the 1830s, how did people secure their private letters? The answer is letterlocking—the ingenious process of folding, slitting, and securing a letter with a strip of paper and sealing wax so that it becomes its own envelope. The practice, used by historical figures ranging from Elizabeth I and her spymaster to Japanese samurai lords, and nearly entirely forgotten, was an everyday activity for centuries, across cultures, borders, and social classes. In Letterlocking, Jana Dambrogio and Daniel Starza Smith, experts who have pioneered the field over the last ten years, tell the fascinating story of letterlocking within epistolary history, drawing on real historical examples from all over the world. Letterlocking will be accompanied by a website, freely accessible scholarly articles, and instructional videos and diagrams, as well as foldable, tear-out sheets with instructions on how to fold and lock a letter. 

Thank you, @barnesandnoble for offering a pre-order discount to your members April 19, on our book “Letterlocking: The Hidden History of the Letter” #BNPreorder 

#mitpress #letterlocking #amsr #origami #documentsecurity #letters #correspondence #fold #diy #security #seal #secret #love #write #encryption #spies #invisible #teaching #instructions #book #publication #launch #video #share 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/letterlocking-jana-dambrogio/1145200759?ean=9780262049276

Alt text: A sparkling star made of magenta and yellow. In the center the date: March 4, 2025. Blue background with white lettering that says, "Letterlocking, The Hidden History of the Letter by Jana Dambrogio, Daniel Starza Smith, with the Unlocking History Research Group. Pre-order now @mitpress @penguinrandomhouse @amazon @barnesandnoble @bookshop_org @Indiebound @indigo @booksamillion

Thanks to Eirene Pianeta for sharing the gif design template in Canva. 

Citation information: Authors: Jana Dambrogio and the Unlocking History Research Group. Title: "Surprise: It's Happening! Letterlocking: The Hidden History of the Letter. Pub date: March 4, 2025, USA (2024))." Letterlocking Instructional Videos. Unlocking History number 6261/Letterlocking Unique Video number: 0304. Date filmed: April 19, 2024. Duration: 1:52. Date posted: April 19, 2024. Video URL: [Insert URL]. Date accessed: [Date].

Copyright 2024. Jana Dambrogio and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). All rights reserved. The following copyrighted material is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Contact the MIT Technology Licensing Office for any other licensing inquiries.