Letterlocking -The Hidden History of the Letter with Jana L. Dambrogio

Thursday, September 18, 2025
6 pm ET online or in person at The Collectors Club, 58 West 40th Street, Mezzanine, New York, NY 10018 (5 pm reception).
Both events are Free by RSVP for in-person, please by 9/16
If you are interested in history, preservation or philately, you will want to attend this presentation.
Letterlocking -The Hidden History of the Letter with Jana L. Dambrogio , the Thomas F. Peterson (1957) Conservator for Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries, IN-PERSON AND VIRTUAL
Join the British Empire Study Group on Thursday, September 18th 6pm Eastern time (11pm in London), when we learn about one of the most fascinating and comprehensive studies of philatelic material conducted by a major non-philatelic institution, MIT. Jana and he fellow researchers studied 250,000 letters, and the findings led to an amazing book that presents these groundbreaking academic findings in an easy-to-read format with actual instructions on how to recreate this “art” which would be otherwise lost.

The following is from Amazon:
“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.”

To register for the online talk
To RSVP for the In-Person event:[ https://bestudygroup.org/events/besg-hosts-letterlocking-the-hidden-history-of-the-letter-with-jana-l-dambrogio-the-thomas-f-peterson-1957-conservator-for-massachusetts-institute-of-technology-libraries-in-person-and-virtua/](https://bestudygroup.org/events/besg-hosts-letterlocking-the-hidden-history-of-the-letter-with-jana-l-dambrogio-the-thomas-f-peterson-1957-conservator-for-massachusetts-institute-of-technology-libraries-in-person-and-virtua/)

To Register on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/8417395574187/WN_uI2GxgQPQl2vLe3cVRnrKA

You can also Register through Eventbright: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/letterlocking-the-hidden-history-of-the-letter-with-jana-l-dambrogio-tickets-1465794032409?aff=oddtdtcreator

The book, which we highly recommend, is “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.

Here is a link to this amazing book:
https://www.amazon.com/Letterlocking-Hidden-History-Jana-Dambrogio/dp/0262049279/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2UBEPJ3ZAHJ80&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.j5Dr0vJVk3nLXfw_fI_Yb9Aeszi39QANieClERl6kHg.48Ab0AY_soLOy6zVpWCy-LlA8x6SzRychclBy04Mmg0&dib_tag=se&keywords=letterlocking+the+hidden+history+of+the+letter&qid=1757572259&sprefix=letterlocking%2Caps%2C445&sr=8-1
Please click the link to learn about Ms. Dambrogio: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0DVNFHT58/about?ccs_id=4ecc876d-2d28-4aba-b932-c276b6909d03b