Letterlocking: The Hidden History of the Letter

When:
Friday, Jun 13, 2025 6:00p -
8:00p

Where:
MIT Museum
314 Main Street, Gambrill Center, Building E-28
Cambridge, MA 02142

EventScheduled OfflineEventAttendanceMode

Admission:
$5

Hosted by:
...
mitmuseum MIT Museum

Categories:
Date Idea, History

Event website:
https://mitmuseum.mit.edu/programs/letterlocking-the-hidden-history-of-the-letter

Join us at the MIT Museum as we welcome scholars Jana Dambrogio and Daniel Starza Smith to discuss their new book, Letterlocking: The Hidden History of the Letter. The presentation will be followed by a letterlocking making activity.


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.


Copies of Letterlocking will be available for purchase onsite from the MIT Press Bookstore.


June 13

6-8pm

$5


Buy Tickets here.

Share this event

Add to:

Reddit
06/13/2025 18:00:00 06/13/2025 20:00:00 America/New_York Letterlocking: The Hidden History of the Letter <p><strong>Join us at the MIT Museum as we welcome scholars Jana Dambrogio and Daniel Starza Smith to discuss their new book, Letterlocking: The Hidden History of the Letter. The presentation will ...

https://www.thebostoncalendar.com/events/letterlocking-the-hidden-history-of-the-letter MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA 02142 false MM/DD/YYYY

Sponsored events