Letterlocking (nonfiction): Difference between revisions

From Gnomon Chronicles
Jump to navigation Jump to search
No edit summary
No edit summary
 
(2 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
'''Letterlocking''' is the practice of folding and sealing a letter or other document such that the letter cannot be opened and re-closed without revealing that the fact that the letter has been opened.  
[[File:Letterlocking.jpg|thumb|Example of letterlocking.]]'''Letterlocking''' is the practice of folding and sealing a letter or other document such that the letter cannot be opened and re-closed without revealing that the fact that the letter has been opened.  


The term was a term coined by MIT Libraries conservator [http://www.janadambrogio.com/ Jana Dambrogio] after she discovered a trove of letters while spelunking in the conservation lab of the Vatican Secret Archives; the letters had been ingeniously folded and sealed so that they couldn't be opened and re-closed without revealing that they had been read. Some even contained "booby traps" to catch the unwary.
The term was a term coined by MIT Libraries conservator [http://www.janadambrogio.com/ Jana Dambrogio] after she discovered a trove of letters which had been ingeniously folded and sealed so that they couldn't be opened and re-closed without revealing that they had been read. Some even contained "booby traps" to catch the unwary.


Dambroglio and her colleagues have since been painstaking reconstructing these long-lost letterlocking techniques (which they hypothesize led to the development of the modern envelope), and documenting their findings in an online Letterlocking dictionary that documents the techniques, tools, and jargon of their discipline.
Dambroglio and her colleagues have since been painstaking reconstructing these long-lost letterlocking techniques (which they hypothesize led to the development of the modern envelope), and documenting their findings in an online Letterlocking dictionary that documents the techniques, tools, and jargon of their discipline.


https://boingboing.net/2019/03/15/security-thru-topology.html
== In the News ==


http://www.janadambrogio.com/
<gallery>
</gallery>
 
== Fiction cross-reference ==
 
* [[Gnomon algorithm]]
* [[Gnomon Chronicles]]
* [[The Sigil (crime fighter)]]
 
== Nonfiction cross-reference ==
 
External links:
 
* [http://www.janadambrogio.com/ Jana Dambrogio home page]
* [https://boingboing.net/2019/03/15/security-thru-topology.html Letterlocking: the long-lost art of using paper-folding to foil snoops] @ Boing Boing
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_(emblem) Seal (emblem)] @ Wikipedia
 
[[Category:Nonfiction (nonfiction)]]

Latest revision as of 11:22, 16 March 2019

Example of letterlocking.

Letterlocking is the practice of folding and sealing a letter or other document such that the letter cannot be opened and re-closed without revealing that the fact that the letter has been opened.

The term was a term coined by MIT Libraries conservator Jana Dambrogio after she discovered a trove of letters which had been ingeniously folded and sealed so that they couldn't be opened and re-closed without revealing that they had been read. Some even contained "booby traps" to catch the unwary.

Dambroglio and her colleagues have since been painstaking reconstructing these long-lost letterlocking techniques (which they hypothesize led to the development of the modern envelope), and documenting their findings in an online Letterlocking dictionary that documents the techniques, tools, and jargon of their discipline.

In the News

Fiction cross-reference

Nonfiction cross-reference

External links: