HISTORY at Your Fingertips
“People come in thinking they’re just going to see reproductions, and then they realize that they’re looking at originals. Sometimes even with the original ink stains on the paper.”
At one point, we even had a Charles Manson letter here,” recalls Richard Minor, a mischievous smile creeping into his voice. Minor has served as director of the Karpeles Manuscript Library in Jacksonville, Florida, for 11 years.
“There was a yellow stain on one corner marked pee, with an arrow pointing to it,” he laughs. “That was one document I really didn’t want to touch.”
The missive was part of an exhibit called “Letters from the Pen,” a collection of letters from some of the world’s most notable, and hopefully more hygienic, people serving time. Mary Queen of Scots had a letter in this exhibit. So did Galileo, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Napoleon. Pope Pius VII was represented, along with abolitionist John Brown. There was
